Last week when Alex was going up and down the pool slides four or nine hundred times every afternoon, I had plenty of time to ponder Many Deep Thoughts of Staggering Thoughtfulness. And I would like to talk about one of those thoughts at this juncture, oh thank you.
Here it is.
There are a lot of people who go to the pool without ever getting in the pool. They just sit beside the pool. And then, if they do get in the pool, they do not put their heads in the water.
I do not understand.
Because to me the no-swimming option at the pool is like going to the movie theatre, paying for a ticket and then standing in the lobby for the entirety of the feature presentation.
BECAUSE YOU’RE MISSING ALL THE FUN, YOU SEE.
I mean, if I’m going to put on a swimsuit? And wear it in public? Well, I’m dang skippy gonna get some kind of reward for that, and I can’t think of any better reward than SOME RELIEF FROM ALL THE HEAT.
I have given this some thought, as you can tell.
So what about you at the pool? Are you a sideliner? Or a swimmer?
I long to know more.
When I go…I’m a swimmer!!
I hate to say it, but…I’m a sideliner. I don’t even wear the suit! Which was very unfortunate the time my youngest daughter fell in the kiddie pool, and I had to fish her out, and I slipped and fell myself, and I was wearing denim shorts and a WHITE SHIRT. Maybe I should rethink the whole no-suit thing.
Definately a swimmer. There has to be some reward for humiliating myself by showing up in public in a swimsuit
My favorite pools are the ones at people’s houses. My kids can swim and I can look out the window and watch them from the air conditioned house wearing a lot more than just a swimsuit!
But when I do go to the pool, I’ll get in but not get my head wet. I wear contacts that would be expensive to replace. (When I take them out, I can’t see much at all, so I kind of need them!) And then there’s the hair issue. As a service to the public, I try my best not to go anywhere if I haven’t flat ironed my hair. It’s not pretty!!
I’m a side-liner. Ever since my nephew got into “trouble” and nobody in the pool noticed, only those who could see from above.
I also “swim” with students (a side liner there also.) I used to sit out of the pool because one or another of our students needed a “time out” every week. But this year one of our students had a seizure in the pool and the lifeguard thought she was just splashing around.
Yes…I’m paranoid so don’t let my “side lining” stop you all from enjoying the swim (I do when I’m not responsible for any kids). I also worry about my contact lenses.
No Kiddin’. if this rather large body o’mine goes to all the trouble (squishin’ ana pushin’) of getting a suit ON…darned tootin’ I am in the water. may displace a fair amount…some may come over the edge…but I AM IN IT!
For Amy-I used to not wear a suit but this time of year even a white shirt doesn’t help much…and naked ain’t an option! (for me)
What’s wrong with going to the pool just to be there and not swim? Sometimes I go to the mall and just sit watching people and don’t buy anything. Is there something wrong with that?
Personally, I think the sideliners are going there just to stare at you .. and all the other bathing beauties .. in bathing suits, when you aren’t looking.
Remember, men are pigs.
:)
This may not be a popular opinion but I think all parents need to get in the water with their children. I am in the water with my kids swimming and playing with them. It is a special time for us. My girls get frustrated when other kids come over and try to get me to interact with them. The kids love the praise from adults and will do handstands and somersaults and call to me asking, “Did you see that?” If I am playing a tag game with my kids they will come over and ask, “Can I play too?” I tend to respond to the kids (after all they just want some attention) but my girls get jealous and say, “Mom, you brought us here to play with us.” I try to balance my response. Sometimes I will explain to the girls that not every mommy gets in the pool to play with their kids and that the kids really want someone to watch them and respond to the tricks they are doing. Sometimes if the kids disrupt my interaction with the girls I will flat out say, “I’m here with my kids and this is special time for us. Why don’t you ask your mom to watch you do that trick?” So please, get in the water with your kids. Play with them, laugh, have a good time and enjoy being with them before they grow up and don’t want to be seen with you at the pool.
I am so with you on this one, Sophie! I am in the water, splashing with my kids and even getting my hair wet. I have naturally curly hair that whacks-out when it gets wet, but I don’t care. I’m there to have fun and NOT melt in the heat. My friends all sit beside the pool in their itty-bitty-bikinis and chat. I just do not find any amount of pleasure in that.
total sideliner!!!
PEOPLE. PEE. IN. POOLS.
I am a SWIMMER.
Who takes great delight in accidentally splashing the mascara off of the half-nekked chic who is trying to impress the lifeguard.
Just kidding. Maybe.
are u kidding me – it’s hot get in the pool. it is the fun exercise.
Swimmer, but I don’t like to get my hair wet if I can help it.
Oh and I wear my contacts the whole time.
Om my goodness! I am completely on your side! I to cannot fathom going to the pool when it’s 200 degrees out just to sit in a chair and watch the kiddies get all nice and cool.
I remember one day last summer I was talking to my neighbor right after we a gotten back from the pool and she asked in an amazed/disgusted voice “you don’t go swimming too, do you?” Hmm. Was she grossed out by the thought of me squeezing my fat butt into a swimsuit, or skeeved out that (GASP!) I got my hair wet?
We do have a large number of moms that come to the pool and sit and watch and gossip. It just doesn’t look like fun. I don’t get it.
I guess I am in between; I don’t really know how to swim but I love to be in the water. However, I have opted for sidelining when I have been too embarrassed to wear a swimsuit because of my weight.
I L O V E hot weather and I always got in the pool with my daughter when she was little. Now not so much….and never my whole head….Just a quick dip and then back to the chair with my book….Pam, South Bend
Oh the pressure….ready for true confessions? I can’t really swim. Yeah, maybe a few feet, but it’s kind of embarassing.
Since I’ve got five little (and bigger) ones to watch at the pool, I’ve got a great excuse for being a sideliner. I get in, but don’t often go under. One of the last times I did, the baby fell in. (She had a life jacket on, but still.)
But, shh…don’t tell my kids, esp. since I force them into swim lessons every summer. I’ve got several years before I’m toddler-less, so maybe they won’t notice? ;)
However, I have opted for sidelining when I have been too embarrassed to wear a swimsuit because of my weight.
Oh…If I wear a swimsuit…I am SO in that pool (let the water cover up the bulges)
Fo sho if I put on the suit, I’m gettin in…if I’m not gettin in, I fo sho ain’t puttin on the suit! Oh, and if I’m in, the hair is definitely getting wet.
So funny, Sophie!
I get in, get wet…get ugly wet!
Some of the other ponderings that I myself have had:
1. Why go to the pool wearing every piece of jewelry you can fit on your body?
2. Why go to the pool, maybe get in to cool off once or twice, but complain that you are getting splashed?
3. Why go to the pool and use the tables and umbrellas (which are for eating) to hold all of your stuff while you swim then leave without having every eaten or used the table for anything else?
4. Why go to the pool and take shampoo with you and wash your hair in the outdoor shower before you leave or use body wash to give your children a shower? (I’m sorry if this was you, BooMama reader, but I don’t want to walk through your dirty suds on my way out the door! Yes! I’ve seen someone do this at our neighborhood pool!) Times are hard and utilities are expensive, but shower in the privacy of your own home. Use your own water.
5. Why go to the pool and swim in your clothes, teenage boy who just happen to forget to bring a suit — third time this week?
6. Why go to the pool with your children, take 10 water guns, 5 water footballs, 3 noodles and 2 floats — throw them all in the pool — stay for 20 minutes, playing with none of them and then go home?
Goodness, sorry. I clearly should have written my own blog post about this!
Headed to the pool…to swim!
Blessings,
Dori
Here’s my most valuable insight about pools: If it is hot, I will swim. if it is not REALLY hot and I’m having a good hair day, I probably won’t get in. Unless of course I’m there with my 3 year old without my husband in which case I have to get in because, well she can’t swim on her own yet.
My mom will swim (very occasionally) but not put her head under…this all relates to a swimming accident when she was a kid and someone jumped on her head and she almost drowned. I don’t think she has put her head underwater since.
Swimmer. The first thing I do in a pool (or lake or river) is get my hair wet. That is, after all, while God invented hair ties. Also, my mom always got in the water with us when we were kids and we LOVED it.
Listen, if I am going to go to all the trouble of squeezing myself into a lycra prison otherwise known as a swimsuit… there better be some kind of reward for that cruel and unusual punishment – and it’s not sitting on the sidelines pretending to be cool.
I’d much rather be in the pool with my kids making a fool out of myself and have them think I’m cool than the moms or dads on the sidelines. It’s my kids I have to live with, not those other folk. (not saying that’s the only reason folks sit on the sidelines, however!)
It’s my kids that will remember “that time we all went swimming and mom jumped of the diving board and did a flip!”. {I totally did that last week, by the way}
I don’t think anyone was as surprised as I was that I could still do one at my current age and weight! lol
I sooooo agree with you! Swimming with my daughter is so much fun – one of the places that we BOTH have fun while playing, and I’m OUT of the house with all it’s constand reminders to work-work-work.
I just don’t understand the moms that have their hair neatly tied back, or a baseball hat on and they just gently dunk in the water. Yes, my highlighted hair costs money, but if it gets a little ruined, I don’t care!
Swim on!
I am a swimmer all the way. I am usually the one that is begging everyone else to stay in the pool while their lips are turning blue and their fingers are all pruney.
But I do have to say – sometimes I don’t put my head under. Chlorine does terrible things to my hair and so if I am going to the pool several days in a row – I will swim with my head above water.
Well, if I do get the suit on, then I usually go in because sitting on the side of the pool sweating is ridiculous. Although, on occasion, now that my kids are getting older, I just let them swim while I watch from my chair!
I swim like a fish!!
And this: “dang skippy” slays me.
BTW, I think there is a good correlation to spiritual truths here. Do we just sit in the Son or dive right in??
I’m with Steven Curtis Chapman’s song–Diving In!
Well, I’m feeling a heavy sense of shame right now, dang it. Who needs shame on a Monday afternoon, I ask you?? So, now you know. I’m a sideliner. There it’s out. Are you happy?
I did get in with my children however, so I should so totally get extra points for that. Okay, so now I’m only half as ashamed.
By the way, I’m typing this as I look out at my own pool, into which I’ve not set foot all summer. Okay, back to completely ashamed. Sheesh.
Um, my skin would absolutely MELT if I didn’t get in!! (hm – now that I think about it..maybe I could lose weight that way!!) – I do like to get in, but I don’t necessarily like to get my hair wet. Well, I like to get my hair wet, but I hate how I LOOK with wet hair, so a lot of times I may not get it wet. It all depends on what I’m doing later and If I have time to wash my hair and get all cleaned up again before going to the next thing.
But, I couldn’t just sit out and not get in at all. UGH.
Oh, I have to get in. Playing with the kidlets is the most fun!
Most of the time I’m a swimmer or a “play with the kids in the pooler” complete with wet hair and ugliness in a suit with no make-up. BUT every once in a while I will get out and grab a book and tan. BECAUSE my legs are blindingly white as I have to wear pants and boots to work everyday, so I like to let pasty stems get some natural tan as opposed to only tan from a bottle. The only problem I have with people who don’t swim is if they don’t pay attention to their kids and their kids are either (a)obnoxious & annoying &/or dangerous to others in the pool or (b) weak swimmers and in danger themselves.
I must absolutely get in if I am near an appropriate body of water while dressed in appropriate clothing. I mean, seriously – who goes to the pool and lays in the baking sun when there’s WATER to play in?
Besides, once you’re in the pool, no one can see how you look in your swimsuit…an added bonus!
I swim. With curly hair. And contacts. I go under the water. In my bathing suit. That I bought in the “Plus Size” section. Don’t even care.
Swimming is good exercise, but more than that, it is fun!
And my friend’s pool that I normally swim in is a salt water pool, so no worrying about the chlorine sting or after-effects on my hair. Life is good.
Wow, reading all these comments is a little scary! Lots of judging going on here! But, I’m gonna’ fess up anyway. I’m a total sideliner. I purchased a swim suit a few years ago because I knew I’d have to go in at some point now that I have kids. However, I HATE swimming and avoid it at all costs. And no people, I don’t even want to get in to cool off. I want no part of it. I think a couple of really bad swim experiences as a child has something to do with it but seriously, there’s nothing about it that is enjoyable to me. This summer, I hired a girl to do private swims lessons for my boys who even picks them up and brings them home. I don’t even have to deal with sitting out in the Arizona heat. I do go periodically to cheer them on and see their progress. And yesterday, I sat out while they swam for FOUR hours sweltering in the humid heat. My kids had a blast swimming and playing together and I’m trying not to take it as a personal attack on my parenting that I don’t get in. I do a ton of other stuff with my kids… just not swimming.
Angie’s comment reminded me that there are probably a lot of people who had less-than-positive water experiences as children. I didn’t even think about while I was doing all my Deep Thinking. Which says A LOT about my thinking skills.
And please-oh-please don’t think that I’m saying there’s a right way or a wrong way to take your kids swimming. My thing is that I have such a strong objection to heat that I really couldn’t fathom why everyone else wasn’t in the water. Or why some people would wear a suit and then not get in. But my eyes, they have been opened.
Also: while I love to swim with my child, you will never find me participating in any sort of camping-type experience with him. And I bet there are a lot of you who would do that in a heartbeat. The point being: we’re all different, don’t have to parent the same, etc.
Love y’all.
Word. I completely agree with you here.
And I’m the crazy loon you see at the hotel pools diving in in February. I always jump in and get my entire body (hair too!) soaked in the first dip.
HAHA me and my mom were just talking about this. Its crazy to just sit on the side and never get in.
I get in, and jump all the way under the first time i get in. Then spend the whole day in the pool with the kids!!
Heather
I loved that movie theater analogy!
I certainly do not go to the movies to stand in the lobby, and I always hop in the pool if I go. Swimming is so much more fun than the sidelines! :)
I do both. But more often than not I am a sideliner. I just don’t get warm enough too often to get in the water. Although now that I am growing into my “hot-bloodedness”, I have been going in more.
I used to be always a swimmer until I gained some weight and gray hair and had these 3 vanity issues. 1) Wet swim suit clinging to you= much more visible fat rolls. Solution- MIRACLESUIT!! 2) I have to get my hair darkened to cover the gray and sun and chlorine fade it back to gray. :( But I decided to forget it this summer because I was trying to get my son to get over his fear of getting his head under the water & it has really worked for him to see my example. 3) If I sit on the sidelines, I can stretch out my legs & get a little sun on them. When I’m in the water, not as many rays reach them. But like I said, realizing my kids needed me has kind of helped me overcome some of the vanity. About the dirtiness of the water- you just can’t think about it. I guess you have to get some cooties sometimes if you want to live & have fun.
The way I look at it is this. People see a whole lot less of me in my swimsuit when it’s underwater than when it’s laying on a chair on the side of the pool!!!!
You are hilarious Sophie! Usually I get in but don’t get my hair wet…I can’t stand getting water in my ears and feeling dizzy for the rest of the day. I know, not much fun!
I am a little of both, I guess. I like being a sideliner and just getting in the water to cool off. I don’t enjoy getting my hair wet, though. Not sure why.
When there is any form of water nearby — be it a pool, bathtub or puddle — you can bet I’m the girl splashing around.
I am a water baby to the point it is ridiculous.
When all the conditions are right for me to actually put on a suit and be near a pool at the same time, I still don’t put my head underwater because I can’t SEE without my glasses. And the water is scary enough without being able to see and breathe normally.
I weigh over 300 lbs and I go SWIMMING! I don’t go to look at the water or be seen, that’s for sure. If I put on a swim suit, or as they’re often called here, a bathing suit, you can dang betcha I’m gonna get in the water and stay until I’m all pruney and shriveled!
xoxoxo
Diane
I swim with them. Sometimes I get the hair wet, sometimes I don’t, although with a two and a four year old all the splashing makes the hair wet or not decision kind of a moot point. I love playing with them and getting wet hugs and kisses.
When I was pregnant with my first, one of my VBS kids drowned on vacation. I have never been able to take my kids to anything deeper than a wading pool. If they want to swim, it has to be with their dad or grandma. It just scares me too much.
I don’t know if one would call what I do “swimming,” but I do get in the water and spash about a bit. :)
But I RARELY get to even spash around. (We are “pool challenged” in my neck of the woods.)
I am a “get in the pool and cool off, but don’t ya dare get my hair wet” gal.
Because after all…..my hair.
The pool, I usually dive in! Now the ocean … well, I am usually a sideliner @ the beach. And when I do go in, it’s not far. Something about salt water & fine hair doesn’t mix. That, and the sharks. ;)
Oh yes, I’m going in all the way immediately upon arrival!! I lived in northwestern ON for 3 years, and I was the looney one begging everyone to go swimming before the water was anywhere close to being warm enough. Sadly, I now live in central OH and haven’t gone swimming in 2 years.
I’m a don’t-go-to-the-pool-at-all kind of person. Like, not unless you drag me kicking and screaming, because I do not like sun touching my skin (due to skin cancer stuff). And there are no shady pools really and indoor pools smell like the inside of a bleach bottle and make me queasy.
Not that you needed to know all of that.
I think it depends where I am at. At a family member’s home – I am in like a fish. I will also stay in at all cost, unless I am jumping from the diving board…and I’m right back in. In public, it’s a little different. On vacation – I’ll swim and wear my suit because who cares who sees me? But I generally don’t swim if The Doodlebug is going to a friend’s house to swim. We mammas sit on the deck, under the umbrella. I think for me it stems from a time that my swimsuit top DISAPPEARED when I jumped into the pool! At least I was young…gravity was good to me then. :)
We own a big, glorious, refreshing pool. I am in – with my kids and without my kids. I agree with Jenna – get in with your kids!
I always say, June July and August are my months to be the laid back, hang out, cool mom. I don’t have to push anyone to anything once that pool cover comes off. There are no jobs or chores out there. Just me and my kids having fun. I totally milk all I can out of those three months to be the fun mom that is hiding behind the “get your homework done” mom from Sept. to May!
Go for it, your kids don’t care what you look like in a suit! And the water (rather being submerged in it) covers a multitude of sins :)
Swim, dive off the board, go down slides, the whole nine yards! LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!
This girl is definately not a sideliner!
I’m a sideliner of the most serious kind. We own a pool. As in I have one in my backyard.
I have sat beside it and enjoyed the tropical feeling it gives me hundreds of times. I think I have been in twice. And my head has only been reluctantly dunked under once.
Call it a shame but I enjoy it just the same… from the sidelines. Sunny smiles!
LOL. It all depends on the heat index. I have to be really hot to get my head wet. I usually end up wading in the shallow end of the pool with my 2-year-old. I have no problem being a sideliner and enjoying the ambiance. But when I’m hot, I take a dip. And when I take all 3 kids, I get in whether I feel like it or not. Because that’s my job. I do long for the day that I can be a sideliner to my heart’s content.
I haven’t been swimming since my daughter was born, but I am definately the one to jump in. I agree it’s a waste to squeeze into the darn suit and not get some satisfaction out of it. Not to mention if you’re next to a nice cool body of water it’s nonsense to not jump in, especially in the summer in FL.
I live in Florida and deal with this issue alot. I definately feel like I am the minority because I cannot sit at a pool and not get in. I get my hair wet and everything. I have to get in every 10-15 mins. because I feel like I am going to melt if I don’t!
I am a swimmer. I loved the pool as a kid. We would ride our bike to the neighborhood pool, stay all day, and come home when it started to get dark. Now that I have children, I want them when they get older to remember me getting in the pool with them, splashing, and having a great time!
Well it depends if it’s really hot/ and if I have my 2 year old with me or not…if he is with us I have to get in with him…we play and swin around…I dont get my hair wet though I dont trust chemicals….in the pool….now if it’s me and my 11 year old I will fry like bacon in a chair all day long….I love doing this as it relaxes me. So I guess I’m both but would prefer to sideline it all the time..lol.
No kids (other than my goats) don’t go to pools, would definitely get in the water if water were available. Stock tanks on our place are NOT conducive to taking a dip. Good discussion topic – I just edited out about 10 lines of stuff – y’all don’t read the Mama of Boo to hear from moi!
I’ve done it all.
Growing up, my Grandmother had a pool. So we were in it ALL THE TIME. And we swam, but mostly the pool was used as a prop for whatever game/dare my cousins and I could come up with.
Then for a long time, I was a sideliner. I still loved the pool, but living in an apartment complex, I loved the IDEA of the pool more than the actual getting in the pool with a zillion people I didn’t know and their children of questionable potty-training status.
Now that we’re back in our hometown where my Mom and other friends have pools and we have a 10 month old who thinks he’s a fish, I get in. But I usually don’t get my hair wet. Because right now it’s about the boy and playing with him. When he gets bigger, his enjoyment of the pool will too. Then I’ll get to play some of those games again and will definitely be getting the hair wet.
I definitely get in the water. I don’t always get my hair wet though, because I was traumatized by green hair when I was younger. I have blonde hair and we had a pool, so I pretty much lived in it in the summer. Somehow, the chlorine turned it green. I had to have it chemically stripped and it was not fun! Although my hair is MUCH darker now, I still have a fear of green hair!
Ick! I hate the heat and LOVE the water – I’m a swimmer :)
For sure, I’m a swimmer. I know you claim to be of the pale variety. I am most definitely as white as a ghost. I can’t stand to just sit in the sun. I feel my skin baking. So, if I’m not in the water, then I am in the shade.
if i get up from my comfy chair to walk to the pool to actually get in it, then that means that my flabby, white (probably not shaved) legs will be visible for all to see. if i stay seated with my nice water bottle then i can stay cool and still enjoy watching everyone else!
I do both. I like to swim but I also like to sit on the side and watch my children play. I’m also waiting for the moment that my youngest is older so I can read while I’m on the sidelines.
Right now, I’m in the pool whether I want to be or not because with 4 non-swimmers on my hands, I have to be RIGHT THERE. However, if I can avoid it, I keep my head above water. It’s all the curly hair. It’s very coarse and dry and chlorine does nasty things to it resulting in comparisons to a Brillo pad.
And while I agree it’s all very refreshing down there under the water, I think we can all agree that sometimes sacrifices must be made for the hair.
I am definitely a swimmer. However, my girls from church are sideliners. Oh, the tragedy that incurred the day we were at the pool with our kiddo’s and our pastor shows up with his 2 youngest for swim lessons.
“What? He’s not allowed to be here!”, said one good friend.
It was at this point that I was ‘sidelining’ with them but upon viewing Pastor…I was a swimmer! :)
Nothing but sidelining for me.
I hate getting wet (though I do take showers), and I HATE the feeling of wet hair (I do wash my hair when I take those showers). Worse than that, though, is all the chlorine in pool water. And the pee. You know it’s there.
I’ll just stay up out of the chlorinated pee water and enjoy some sun, thank you very much!
I am somewhere in between. I do get in most of the time, but I don’t always go all the way and get my hair wet. Maybe it is because we spend all of our time in the shallow end and there is no real need to be underwater. My kids do a pretty good job splashing. I love laying (or is it lying?) by the pool and reading a book and just getting in to cool off every so often, but that has been put on hold for the next million years or so.
Oh I’m a swimmer… if for no other reason than to hide my bathing suited body in the water! lol. I mean, the heat relief is nice and all but the COVERAGE of the water is the better than any turtle-necked suit out there. =0)
swimmer with dry hair.
I go both ways. There. I said it. I’m out.
I like to get in and get wet, but sure as shootin’ every one of my kids (and I have Kids O’ Plenty) swims over to me and wants to show me their handstands and how long they can hold their breath and “Do you want to race me, Mommy?” and “Look, Mommy!Mommy!LOOK!MOMMMMYYYY!” until I get out and swear I’m not going back in again. EVER. Or two weeks later when I get back in. Repeat.
Swimmer! Definitely. Entire head under the water!
Oh, I love swimming!
Just not the bathing suits.
because i have three boys and will end up just as wet if i sit on the side, i choose to swim and play with those little monkeys!
Oh how I love these questions. Once again, it makes it LOOK like I’m working when really I’m learning about pools, swimming, sidelining and not getting your hair wet.
Me? Swimmer, baby!
Swimmer but I do not always get my head wet.
Sideliner and reluctant participant. I”m with them all day–find some friends at the pool! :) When I can’t stand the heat or the begging from my kids any longer, I do go in and play, but out of fear of losing my contacts, I try to keep my head dry. Sounds like you’re having fun.
I am a swimmer. I have ALWAYS loved to swim. I get my head wet and I really dont care what I look like doing it. I am LIVING. To be near water and not get in is torture to me.
My kids are swimmers too-though my husband could easily just go in for a minute and then get out and sit and watch which for me-a fish- has resulted in many “why” discussions over the years LOL
I guess it’s kind of cool to be one of THOSE moms with the teeny bikinis and the gold earrings and bracelets and the perfect hair. I was always the mom playing with my kids with my wet hair slicked back, like some kind of drowned rodent. And now I’m the grandma that looks like that. But it’s so much more fun!
i’m a grandma & haven’t had kids to splash around with since the 80’s & i really only like to float around the pool (either as a bodybuoy or on a float)not swim, sooooo – unless there are no children in the pool, i’m a sideliner.
there’s nothing quite as relaxing, while you float around the pool, as listening to: MARCO! POLO! MARCO! POLO! MARCO! POLO! MARCO! POLO! MARCO! POLO! (which will probably be my grandchildren’s favorite thing to play in the water, when they get old enough!, & if it is, i’ll be right there, in the water, playing it with them!
OK… so I’m a sideliner. I love getting the sun, and I love soaking the feet to cool off, and yes, on occasion enjoy the water up to the neck. But here goes… I had three years of swimming lessons as a kid and grew up in a lake town. But in my 17th summer, I was blessed to travel to Europe with my high school French teacher and a few friends. I stepped off an underwater boulder in the French Riviera and got sucked into a current that completely swiped my memory of every swimming stroke I’d ever known. I had to be rescued and it became apparent to me that God had a plan for me OUTSIDE OF THE WATER. So, I don’t have children but do enjoy watching the excitement of others. I bask in the sun, I cool in the shallow end, and I keep my chin above water.
I get in, but don’t usually put my head under. I have long hair and it is a PAIN to comb out without conditioner (although I have taken it with and just leave it in) And my hair gets all crazy if it air dries. Also, I hate that water in your ears thing. I doggy paddle anyway, b/c I don’t know how to swim, so it helps to have my head above water so I don’t, you know, drown. But mostly, I just don’t like to have my head in the water, because I am a weirdo. go figure.
I’m totally with you on this one- I never understood that either! I’m from Florida and have spent many an hour at the pool and sitting by the pool without getting wet seems like torture to me. All that heat and sun and no relief.
That is so funny! We just got back from the pool and I was thinking the same thing! It feels like it’s a 115 outside. What is up with people keeping their hair pretty at the pool? I don’t understand it, not one bit!
I am definitely a swimmer!
I am scared, no terrified, of water and can not even do anything remotely close to swimming. My girls can only get in a pool if their daddy is there to be in with them. They love having him in the water. He loves playing all of those pool-trick games with them. Me? I have panic attacks.
I guess I would rather be a “bad” sideliner parent by not playing in the pool with them than one who passes along my fear and anxiety. I promise you that me being in a pool with my kids would NOT promote fun carefree laughter!!
We go to the pool just about every day. I’m usually a swimmer and a dunk-under-the-water-er. When you’re catching two 4 year olds every time they jump in the water, you might as well dunk, ’cause you’re gonna get wet.
Today though, we are headed out to the pool and I’m going to attempt to not get my hair wet, because we have some local amusement park plans and I don’t want to have to wash the hair before we leave. We’ll see how it goes.
This is really interesting. I never thought about it before, but I am definitely one of the “sideliner moms” who get in each time, but don’t get my hair wet but about 3-4 times a summer. My reasons are much the same as the other “sideliner moms”: 1)I need my glasses to see my kids in the water. 2)My hair color is an “investment” I save for monthly, and we’re at the pool a lot. I literally can’t afford to let it get ruined in the chlorine. 3)I really enjoy standing in the pool, floating on a raft, or sitting in a lounge chair visiting with my children’s friends’ moms on the sidelines.
However, before the end of each summer, I join my kids in a diving contest (the “watermelon” is my signature dive – that’s as good as it gets), and do have a blast getting my head wet!
I am ALWAYS in the water! Acutally, right now we’re starting to talk about putting our own pool in, something I am EXSTATIC about! I love to play with my kids in the water. I do flips and summersalts under water. I jump off the diving board. And I love every last minute of it. Honestly, I can’t wait until they’re old enough to play Marco Polo!
i rarely comment on the blog but i had to “dive in” on this one.
i’m a swimmer. i get my head wet first thing when i jump in. and i also am with the ladies who swim in contacts (and open my eyes under water).
that being said, i appreciate the honesty of you ladies who confess you don’t, and i admire those of you who can lay out and read for hours.
i get way too distracted by the heat and all the action and can never just lie on a lounge chair and read. i am deeply envious of you ladies who can do such a thing, especially on vacation.
I used to be a swimmer… but it’s a little hard to when you’re trying to hold onto a squirming 15 month old who has absolutely no fear of the water!
And depending on the day (usually at my in-laws) I don’t want to get my hair wet because then I’d have to wash it again. But then again they don’t live where it’s really that hot and their pool is cold enough!
Wow…I can’t understand why the swimmers care if the sideliners swim or not…we sideliners sure don’t care if the swimmers swim!
So yes, obviously I am a sideliner. I hate swimming, I hate pools, I hate getting wet…I try to avoid going to a pool in general, but if I find myself with no choice I definitely do not get in. And yes, I sure hate getting splashed so I stay as far from the side as possible unless my kids are in and in that case I STAND by the side….I can see them better and only my legs get splashed that way.
That being said, my DD is taking private swim lessons this week and last and I do get in afterwards because the fee includes open swim and she has no one to swim with if I don’t get in. I hate every minute of it though. I grew up with a pool in the backyard and used it about five times in my life. It’s just not my thing. I hate getting wet and the water is never warm enough. And I hate the feeling of a wet suit on me.
As Sophie pointed out, we all have different things we like and don’t like to do. I have to admit I wouldn’t camp either, but I’m all over the roller blading and bike riding with my kids…I love to play dolls with them and board games and I’ll climb all over playground equipment. But pools? Nope.
SIDELINER. With hat, sunscreen, and in the shade!
I am a swimmer, but I have to wear prescription sunglasses (I am too chicken for contacts) so I don’t go underwater. I do lean back and get my hair wet and swim above water, but I don’t go underwater because I am blind! haha I am with you though – if I am putting on a suit, I am getting IN the pool!
I love to swim at our city pool. I love swimming in all pools. Splash me! Don’t splash me. I just love having fun in a pool.
I’m always in if the water is warm enough – but I like it like bath water!! Don’t mind getting the hair wet either.
My favorite thing is swimming sans suit if I get the chance!