When we go away on vacation, we have our neighbors watch our house for us. It's not a particularly onerous job, since the only thing they have to do is pick up any flyers and free newspapers that make their way to our driveway or door and be there in case of an emergency. They do not need to take in the mail (we stop it) or water plants, or feed pets or anything like that. They've done a fine job with what they have to do and we typically bring them back a little present to show our gratitude. I should add that we are also kind of/sort of friends with the family. We are very friendly and talk when we see each other outside. We have had dinner together a couple of times. We keep saying we should get together again, but never quite get around to it. It's that kind of relationship. They are really nice people and we have some things in common. But it seems like their life revolves around their children and we don't have any, so that's really the limiting factor, I think.
Anyway, back in May, when we were away for a week, I got a text from the Mom begging me to let her and her kids use our pool (yes, I realize a pool is not particularly Mustachian, but it is what it is.) It was really hot, we had a drought going on, the kids really wanted to go swimming etc. (In her defense our community pool is open something like 8 hours a week, pools in fitness clubs are not fun/outside, and all the nearby natural bodies of water have alligators in them, so they were not just being lazy). Both my husband and I felt kind of weird about it, but we also like sharing what we have, so we said no problem, just make sure that the kids are careful and are supervised.
They were very happy and grateful. When we got back, we found that they had cleaned up the entire pool area and even left us flowers.
So far so good. However, about a week ago, a girl who I really do not think was one of my neighbor's two daughters (I am a little face blind, particularly when it comes to children) rang my bell and asked if she could use my pool "again." She had two friends with her standing off to the side who may or may not having been wanting to use the pool "again." I just told them no (nicely) and they ran off. But I started wondering if my neighbors had been inviting their neighborhood friends over to our pool too. Not so great, particularly when you're trying to hide the fact that you are away on vacation.
This weekend we were away again and the neighbors may or may not have used the pool. (They said they were planning on it,
but I think they got rained out).
We are planning on going away for a long vacation (more than 2 weeks) at the end of July and again we are planning on asking our neighbors to watch our house as they have done for years. However, I know that the pool issue will come up again. My husband has confessed that he is worried about someone hurting themselves and us having a potential law suit on our hands. We have no way of knowing who is using it, how they are using it and whether or not they are being adequately supervised. And even if everyone is following the "rules" bad things could still happen. He said I should just tell them: sorry no more pool access and explain his thinking.
If I could be sure it was just them using it, I would push back a little against my husband, but what with the giggling trio of bathing suit clad girls at my door last week, I'm starting to get concerned too. I don't want to hurt our nice relationship with the neighbors, but I'm thinking we really should close this whole pool privilege thing down.
So, that's pretty much what we want to do. But how to do it? My husband thinks we should invite them to dinner so as not to be perceived as cruel. But I'm worried that if we have dinner with them, we might find ourselves in an even more awkward situation or wind up making a compromise we don't want to make. Easier just to explain nicely via text or in person w/o the dinner.
So, what would you do? Would you let them continue to use the pool or not? If not, how would you go about breaking the bad news so as to best maintain the relationship?