An Afternoon at the Pool

Today we went to the Boston Sports Club pool, which we joined for the summer as our town pool is under renovation until 2018.  Since we are relative newbies to this pool, we weren't aware that showing up at 1pm was right at the start of a 20 minute adult swim.  Julia was just about to go off the diving board when we were told, so we were moved over to the kiddie area of the lap pool.  When the 20 minutes were up, there was no announcement about adult swim being over, so we were a little unsure whether we could go back to the diving board even though some kids began jumping off.  Luckily, I soon discovered this sign:

ME: Hey girls, see, the adult swim is over at 1:20.  It's 1:24, so it's okay for you to go in.
JULIA: But how do you know??
ME: Well, because 20 minutes have already passed.  Plus Daddy said he heard the lifeguard tell another kid it was okay to go off the diving board.
JULIA: But how could Daddy HEAR him??
ME: Look.  There's kids jumping off.  It's fine.
MADELEINE: But Mommy!  The SIGN!
ME: Yeah.  The sign said adult swim lasts 20 minutes.
MADELEINE: No, Mommy, we CAN'T go in.

Both my kids feel the need to get absolutely affirmation from an authority figure before they do ANYTHING that might be remotely breaking the rules.  And they do not consider me to be an authority figure so it doesn't matter what I say, they won't take my word for it.  Julia eventually realized that the adults were out of the diving pool and a line of kids was waiting for a turn on the diving board, so she joined the group.  Madeleine was still in a panic over the sign.

MADELEINE: No, Mommy, I can't go in, because of what it said on the sign.
ME: What do you mean?
MADELEINE: Mommy.  The part about children under 14.
ME: That's only during the 20 minute adult swim, honey.
MADELEINE: No.  Mommy!  (pointing urgently at the other end of the diving pool)

I looked where she was pointing and saw this:

I mistakenly took her concern to be that the pool was being vacuumed so there shouldn't be anyone swimming until it was clean.

ME: That's fine, honey.  They're just cleaning the pool, but you're allowed to swim while they do it.
MADELEINE: No.  Mommy.  Kids under the age of 14.
ME: Right.  It's 1:25.  You're allowed back in.
MADELEINE: No, but Mommy.  Aren't I supposed to clean?
ME: Huh?

Then I suddenly understood.

ME: Oh, no, honey, it says "CLEAR" the pool, not "CLEAN" the pool.  You don't have to clean anything.  It just means that from 1:00 until 1:20 all kids under the age of 14 need to get out of the pool.
MADELEINE: (utter relief flooding her face) Oh.  Okay.  (trotting off to get in line for the diving board.)

I mean, the kids know that this pool was waaaaay more expensive to join than our town pool, but it's not like I made some kind of deal to get cheaper admission by offering up my kids as cleaning services.  Sheesh.  I'm not THAT mean of a mom!  (Plus I know how terrible they both are at cleaning.  I pretty much would never offer them up because I know they'd be utter failures.)  At any rate, once they were back in the water they were happy campers for the rest of the afternoon.  Next time I know to show up before or after 1pm!