My partner (35M) and I (21M) are on holiday in Spain at the moment, and very much enjoy snorkeling in the crystal clear waters. We went to a remote beach which has no lifeguard and is not very touristy , as the beaches where we were staying were packed and too hard to see the water.
We were swimming along the rocky coast, and the water gets quite deep quite fast, but there’s very little current and it’s in a bit of an alcove so it’s safe for majority of swimmers. However when we were swimming we spotted, a few metres out, a giant jellyfish. We swam away from it, but then I passed a family who were English and were swimming that way with two young kids (maybe about 5 or 6?). I stopped and said to the dad that there was a jellyfish a few metres out that way, but if they stay by the rocks they would be okay. I said just be wary as it was fairly large and also because there is no lifeguard (so no medical supplies). The kids were also still using floaties so naturally not the best swimmers. They thanked me and I swam past. It’s noted that the parents didn’t have any goggles.
Then, about five minutes later the girls were screaming about jellyfish, and I heard the parents exasperatedly say there was no jellyfish and to keep swimming. This is where the issue started. The parents would not stop whispering and glaring at me, and one of them commented I intentionally scared their children. My partner says I should’ve kept myself to myself and not said anything.
The girls wouldn’t stop saying about jellyfish and they had to get out eventually, but before they did they were saying they saw jellyfish and the parents were telling them there was none, and the father was trying to coax the daughter to him. But about two foot away from him were two jellyfish. The daughters refused, and I saw them get out, and the parents are still giving me death glares from across the beach, supposedly for ruining their beach day. I don’t have kids so I can see how that was frustrating, but I didn’t want them to get hurt…AITA?
Tldr: I warned a family with young kids about the jellyfish in the water, and scared the children until they had to get out.
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My partner (35M) and I (21M) are on holiday in Spain at the moment, and very much enjoy snorkeling in the crystal clear waters. We went to a remote beach which has no lifeguard and is not very touristy , as the beaches where we were staying were packed and too hard to see the water.
We were swimming along the rocky coast, and the water gets quite deep quite fast, but there’s very little current and it’s in a bit of an alcove so it’s safe for majority of swimmers. However when we were swimming we spotted, a few metres out, a giant jellyfish. We swam away from it, but then I passed a family who were English and were swimming that way with two young kids (maybe about 5 or 6?). I stopped and said to the dad that there was a jellyfish a few metres out that way, but if they stay by the rocks they would be okay. I said just be wary as it was fairly large and also because there is no lifeguard (so no medical supplies). The kids were also still using floaties so naturally not the best swimmers. They thanked me and I swam past. It’s noted that the parents didn’t have any goggles.
Then, about five minutes later the girls were screaming about jellyfish, and I heard the parents exasperatedly say there was no jellyfish and to keep swimming. This is where the issue started. The parents would not stop whispering and glaring at me, and one of them commented I intentionally scared their children. My partner says I should’ve kept myself to myself and not said anything.
The girls wouldn’t stop saying about jellyfish and they had to get out eventually, but before they did they were saying they saw jellyfish and the parents were telling them there was none, and the father was trying to coax the daughter to him. But about two foot away from him were two jellyfish. The daughters refused, and I saw them get out, and the parents are still giving me death glares from across the beach, supposedly for ruining their beach day. I don’t have kids so I can see how that was frustrating, but I didn’t want them to get hurt…AITA?
Tldr: I warned a family with young kids about the jellyfish in the water, and scared the children until they had to get out.
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I warned a family with young kids about a jellyfish in the ocean, and it scared the children so much they had to get out. The parents now are giving me death glares and muttering about how I ruined it.
I might be the asshole because I have ruined a family’s beach holiday and a snorkeling experience for the children.
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
NTA. I live near the ocean, and while jellyfish are not a big concern, people drown from disregarding strong currents – even when warned. Sometimes fear is a good thing, even when it comes from valid warnings from strangers.
That’s too bad…
NTA.
Warning people about a potentially harmful creature is just common courteousy.
NTA.
Why is the father teying to gaslight his kids when there CLEARLY is a jellyfish there?
Those guys are just thick headed, not sure what they’d think you’d gain from lying about a harmful creature in the water. If they got stung I’m sure they would’ve wished they’d taken your warning
NTA. If there’s a choice to be made between having people stare at me and watching kids squirming in pain over jelly fish stings, I know my choice.
“two foot away from him were two jellyfish” Sounds like the father either has very bad eyesight or was being obtuse on purpose. Either way, you done good.
NTA. If you hadn’t warned them and one of the kids were seriously injured from the jellyfish, not only would the kid be in the hospital, but your conscious would have you feeling guilty because you could have tried to warn them to prevent that. Their beach day was what they made of it because they could have swam somewhere else.
NTA.
But only because the jelly fish off the coast of Spain in the ocean actually are commonly stinging ones.
if you didn’t know that then you would be the AH.
Kids don’t need more reasons to be scared of swimming… swimming is great! But if there’s a proven known danger then alerting others is great too.
Obviously NTA.
You didn’t ruin anything, if you hadn’t said anything then they or their kids might have been burned. THAT could have ruined their day if not their vacation if their children got scared of the water because of it.
They might blame you for “scaring” their kids, but you did the right thing by warning them. How they wish to interpret it, is not your problem.
NTA.
You literally warned them about an actual danger. If they’d rather gaslight their kids than admit you were right, that’s on them.
Imagine if you said nothing and something bad happened.
And you were right. There were jellyfish. 🪼
NTA. You did the right thing, they were the ones who ignored you. Doesn’t matter how annoyed they are, you probably stopped their kids from getting stung.