Sad but true.  We all have our horror stories with open bowlers.  Many simply do not know proper lane courtesy and others do but simply regard a bowling center as a place for their children to run wild.  Our sport has no respect.  To most people it is regarded as a more challenging form of skee-ball.  

At least before electronic scoring, many scoresheets reminded bowlers about lane courtesy.  And many of the chain centers have employees that do not care about the game or are motivated to point out some of the basic courtesies expected in our game.
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got revs?

I understand why you are upset about this. Keep in mind though you as a league player have a time reserved every week for you to bowl. With that in mind you should know that when ever you prebowl, makeup or what ever the case is you do run the risk of bowling next to open play. The problem I have with a lot of league bowlers is that they expect everyone to know lane courtesy. If someone comes out every now and then to bowl they are not going to know the "rules" of bowling. From when I worked at a center if I knew someone was coming in to make up for league I would try to put them somewhere to where the lanes next to them would be the last I had to use. I also reminded them that it is open play time that open bowlers may be next to them so they knew.
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nothing fancy or catchy to say in my signature

sd, I think lane courtesy is just common sense, especially when there is no ball return between the lanes.  If I had a very small child, I would not let him/her on the approach unless the next lane were clear, because I would be afraid of her/him being hurt in a collision of some sort.

I knew that we would be next to open bowling when we scheduled to prebowl, and I didn't expect total lane courtesy, but I do think that people should make their children return from the foul line after delivering a ball.

Debbie

Bones,

I did do that.  I very politely asked the parent to ask her child to come off the lane because I didn't want her to get hurt.  She ignored me.  Before this even transpired, I told her that I thought her daughter was adorable.  

In another instance, my husband did the exact thing you suggested, explaining in detail why there is lane courtesy.  During one of my husband's deliveries, I heard the parent sarcastically tell her child to "wait for the 'pro' on the next lane to bowl."

Sometimes you just can't win.

Debbie

Blame the parents blame the parents is all I am hearing. Yes indeed sometimes the parents are at blame. I have seen many times where the parent does everything right but the kid still does it. If we are talking about young kids you need to remember that they are kids and they may not fully understand why they need to wait. They are excited and want to throw the ball down the lane and see what happens. Once they get into the teenage years they are old enough to know better. Blame that kid not the parent.

Sawbones I do thank you for seeing my points. However sometimes there is not enough time to tell everyone in open play about lane courtesy. Yeah if I would put them next to a league bowler practicing or even making up I would at that time educate them on it.

With bowling just being seen as a thing to do here and there by many people they do not take time to learn the "rules" of bowling. If it would not be for the family I grew up in I probably would not know anything about the sport. Until bowling is a major sport all over not everyone will know the "rules" of bowling even at that time I don't think everyone will.
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nothing fancy or catchy to say in my signature

Debs,  we had a similar situation a few years back.  In our center, if you schedule the prebowl in advance, they are supposed to set a pair of lanes aside.  They usually put you at one of the end pair and keep a lane open as long as possible.  If hey have to put bowlers right next to you, they put bowlers who know lane courtesy.

This time, some one forgot to put our prebowl on the calendar.  We gotthere for the scheduled prebowl and all they had open was a pair next to a family birthday party.  Not only did they not show any lane courtesy, but the one kid would run up on the lane immediately next to us while another her mother was bowling on the other lane.  Then she would lay down on the approach near the foul line.  We tried to be patient and bowl when the kid was off the lane, hoping she wouldn't run up on us.
 
One of the guys politely went up to ask the party to keep the child, about 7-8 years old, off the approach while she wasn't bowling.  He explained that it was not safe and that it was very distracting.  The mother's reply was "We are here for a birthday party.  We paid for the lanes and we will use them however we want."  Our bowler tried to explain he did not want to ruin their fun, just wanted her to keep the child from getting hurt.  The woman decided to get nasty and cussed him out.  Thankfully our bowler walked away.  He can get nasty when pushed.

At that point I went to the desk to ask for another pair, when it opened up.  At the time the house was full.  We waited about 15 minutes and another pair opened up and we completed our prebowl.

Some people just don't get it and don't want to get it.  You did the right thing in trying to educate the mom.  Unfortunately some people just don't want to be educated.
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It's not that life is too short.  It's that you are dead for sooooo LONG