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.
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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.)
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