Different Views
       I live in the scenic town of New Milford Connecticut, which most people would say is a nice town, as well the neighboring ones around it. In the town over one from me is Washington, a very small town unlike my own which is home mostly to weekender New Yorkers. This has a lake in it, not too big but not small, this one is called Lake Waramaug. Once you drive into Washington, up and around the hill at the stop sign is the town's private beach, which in the summers I have the pleasure of lifeguarding at. As most people in the town say "lifeguarding is easy money there, especially since the beach is so tiny." But from my perspective, they are very wrong. Everyone looks at the town beach as a quiet place where you can go and relax and take you kids to play all day in the sun and sand. The dock and rock that all variety of aged kids love to go back and forth from are just great additions to the beach which gives the kids more things to do other than bug mommy and daddy to come play with them. To parents, there is no worries, because in the middle of the sand is a big white wooden chair that on the back says LIFE GUARD ON DUTY; in there eyes, it might as well say "babysitter on duty". Now for us lifeguards, once that sign goes up, we don't get a break from our job till the day is done.

   Lifeguarding is not an easy job that lets you just sit in the sun and get a nice tan all day. One thing for sure is that the tan lines you get from your bathing suit is definitely not flattering and takes many trips to the beach to get rid of. But most importantly when you are on that pretty little wooden thrown, you have the lives of anyone who is in the water in your hands. People are very wrong when they say that our beach is a quiet little beach, because there are kids running and screaming everywhere you look. Yours eyes cannot wander from the water at any time, especially with smaller children in the water. Even washington town beach being a small area, on the weekends and hot days it gets packed with people, especially people who don't watch there kids. On top of watching the water, we also have to be careful of what is going on under neath us in the sand. No sand flying from kids shovels as there all racing to build a sand castles, going right the elderly New Yorkers big sunflower hats. You need to make sure every person at the beach is happy, even if you have to be a little harsh with rules, especially in the water.
  Normally on busy days, parents see there kids splashing around in the water and jumping off the big rock in the shallow end sideways and just smile and wave. Those parents are usually the unhappy ones when we have to walk up to them and tell them there child has been taken out of the water for 10 minutes due to there lack of listening skills. All the kids may look like there having fun at the time, but when we have to jump off the stand and pull a kid out the water unconscious because he hit his head on the rock, it wont be a pleasant site.
   Kids may think that we can be no fun to have around and our rules make no sense, but from a lifeguards perspective we are just looking out for what is best and safe for everyone. No one really understands what serious injuries and consequences can come from something that wasn't even intentional, and our job training has put us in many situations to see all sides possible. A nice sunny weekend to families means a lot of fun in the sun, but to us lifeguards it means extra work to make sure everyone that comes in and out of the water is safe so they can come back and have more fun on there next beach trip.