Installing an inground pool is very exciting. It’s your own slice of paradise where you can swim anytime you want in private.

So, how would you feel if your neighbor’s kid started inviting himself over? Would you set rules?

And what if he ignored those rules? Would you allow him to swim or tell him no?

In the following story, you’ll meet a husband who dealt with this exact situation, but his wife had different ideas.

Let’s see how this played out.

WIBTA for telling the neighbors down the street “no parent, no pool”?

We put in a pool a few months ago, and the pool deck is still in progress. It’s all dirt/stone currently.

The kid down the street, who is a bit older than our kids, saw us in the pool from the road today and came down to ask if he could swim.

We really didn’t want anyone because it’s still a disaster out back, but I said he could if his mom was coming over.

He came back 10 minutes later in swim trunks with a towel and no parent in sight and said she couldn’t come.

Even slacking on the rules one time is probably a bad idea.

My wife let him go in anyway and was texting his mom, but I told her I am going to talk to the parents and tell them that going forward the rule is no parent, no pool.

I’m not running a daycare all summer, and I don’t feel like being held hostage to stay outside because the kids are all playing.

The kid is quite a bit older, but just because they are fine with him running around the neighborhood doesn’t mean I want him stopping by uninvited everytime he sees us outside.

The husband and wife are not on the same page.

My wife doesn’t want me to say anything. She says to just tell him next time that we are going inside, but I don’t feel like lying and he would still see us from the road..

I want to set the ground rules early. Is it wrong for me to tell them he can’t just come by every time we are out back, and that when he does, they need to be with him?

WIBTA?

Wow. It’s always best to set rules upfront so that no one gets the wrong idea.

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit had to say about this.

These are great thoughts.

This person reminds them to read up on liability laws.

Here’s another person who completely agrees that rules need to be set early.

According to this comment, once you get a pool, all the neighbors want to be your friend.

Rules are very necessary. Especially when you own a swimming pool.

They would always be set early and firmly enforced for everyone’s safety.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.