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.
{ 180 comments }
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →
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!
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →
Comments on this entry are closed.