No Fun Allowed

It seems to me that swimming pools life guards are there for one reason: to save you in the event that you are drowning. Having now swam in pools in multiple different states this summer, I can say with confidence that life guards have a second purpose: to prevent any fun from taking place in the pool. I think lifeguards have more rules for swimmers than the people in the Old Testament. A sampling of these rules includes:

• no going down the water slide in pairs (meaning I can't take my 2 year olds down the slide)
• no going down the water slide head first (why?)
• no splashing (seriously, we are in a pool!)
• no spinning the floating frog (then perhaps you should anchor it down better, because with one anchor, it's going to spin)
• no jumping off of the floating dinosaur (or the floating frog for that matter)
• no inflatables or other pool toys allowed
• no hanging onto the metal railing (I think this one is just to show the swimmer who has the whistle)

I could go on and on, but I'm disheartened by the idea that so much effort is made into making sure kids do not have any fun. If I make a connection to parenting, and even to my relationship and work in a church, I realize I need to guard against making sure that there's more to my parenting (and that there's more to following Jesus) than just saying "no". While boundaries and limits are important, sometimes we make up rules, whether in the pool, in the home, or in the church, not because they are an important parameter to stay within, but because we are tired, lazy, or annoyed, and those aren't good reasons to make up a rule, even at the swimming pool.