Are we the only family on DCUM that doesn't belong to a pool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My parents did not join a pool club when I was a teenager and I resent them for it to this day.

Jesus, grow up.

LOL!

[Anonymous]

How old is your kid. I am not a pool person, and didnt consider joining one until my oldest was 4. At that age, learning to swim became suddenly important and you really need more exposure than 30 minute weekly lessons to be comfortable in the water. Plus, as another pp, it is a no-brainer activity on really hot summer days. Beats sweating it out on a steamy playground in august. Cant wait until all my kids are able to swim independently and i can stop getting in the water myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kids matter too, and having a pool membership where they can have fun with their friends is great summer fun. It's not all about YOU!

+1

[Anonymous]

We finally got a membership to our neighborhood pool (about $600/year) and didn't use it nearly enough. But, once the kids are older it will be worthwhile.

Still, I miss my childhood public pool, where everyone went every weekday (I am from the sticks), and on the weekends we swam in lakes. Totally low budg, but so much more fun and laid back than pools around here, even with their grill nights and whatnot. But, of course, that's part of living in an urban area.

Given the heat here most summers, the pool is where most kids are, and that is where your kids will want to be.

[Anonymous]

Our neighborhood pool is $500/summer (late May to mid-September). Honestly it's not worth it anymore, now that the kids are grown and I never go--but when the kids were little, it was a lifesaver.

[Anonymous]

I am about the only person I know who does. I would guess you are in the majority.

[Anonymous]

well, it's damn near impossible to get a membership to the pool in our community. Plus, the investment just isn't worth it for the amount of time we can actually spend there. It's a bit of a shame, because a lot of my kid's friends are on the swim team. But, it really would only be worth the trouble if I were a SAHM, which I am not.

[Anonymous]

What do you do on hot summer days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:well, it's damn near impossible to get a membership to the pool in our community. Plus, the investment just isn't worth it for the amount of time we can actually spend there. It's a bit of a shame, because a lot of my kid's friends are on the swim team. But, it really would only be worth the trouble if I were a SAHM, which I am not.

Why? Our kids use it with their nanny and friends' moms and nannies during the week, and the whole family uses it on weekends, at night. Fun especially over Fourth of July.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Me too OP! I'm just not into the pool. I enjoyed it as a child, and I'm sure I will get flamed or whatever but hanging out in the sun for hours at a time is different now. There are plenty of other things to do in the summer. Now admittedly, we work and our kids are in daycare, but we just got a nanny and it's possible that next summer the pool will be a good idea for them. So I may join, but I don't think it's an absolute. I do want my kids to learn how to swim though, but was thinking they would do that at lessons through the county rec centers, the Y, camps etc.

What do you do on the weekends with your kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But they're only free for DC residents. We don't live in DC.

I would imagine that with their wealth and prosperity, MoCo and Fairfax County would have free pools for their residents. Look into it. You can use DC pools for a nominal fee.

I live in Fairfax County. Of course there are no free pools. Are you such an urbanite that you really don't realize this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, it's damn near impossible to get a membership to the pool in our community. Plus, the investment just isn't worth it for the amount of time we can actually spend there. It's a bit of a shame, because a lot of my kid's friends are on the swim team. But, it really would only be worth the trouble if I were a SAHM, which I am not.

Why? Our kids use it with their nanny and friends' moms and nannies during the week, and the whole family uses it on weekends, at night. Fun especially over Fourth of July.

hahaha - yeah, nannies. some of us can't afford those. She goes to the lowest cost camps we can find during the week - which come out to about $150/week. She could go with friends in the evenings, but we've not been invited yet. We do have a neighborhood friend with a backyard pool, so we went there a couple times this summer. We can go to the county pools and water parks on weekends if we want. We miss the planned community we used to live in where we paid $40 for all of us to have access to 12 pools in the summer, which WAS worth the money.

I do hope at some point, her friends might start inviting her. That is how I got to go to the pool in the summer when I was younger - my parents never had a membership or a pool. Until then, we have a sprinkler and a small pool in the backyard that she and her little friend next door splash around in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But they're only free for DC residents. We don't live in DC.

I would imagine that with their wealth and prosperity, MoCo and Fairfax County would have free pools for their residents. Look into it. You can use DC pools for a nominal fee.

I live in Fairfax County. Of course there are no free pools. Are you such an urbanite that you really don't realize this?

+1

It costs about $20 for all of us to use the RECenter pools each time we go. You can get monthly passes that could make it cheaper if you use it enough, but it sure isn't "free" The county run water parks are even costlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, it's damn near impossible to get a membership to the pool in our community. Plus, the investment just isn't worth it for the amount of time we can actually spend there. It's a bit of a shame, because a lot of my kid's friends are on the swim team. But, it really would only be worth the trouble if I were a SAHM, which I am not.

Why? Our kids use it with their nanny and friends' moms and nannies during the week, and the whole family uses it on weekends, at night. Fun especially over Fourth of July.

hahaha - yeah, nannies. some of us can't afford those. She goes to the lowest cost camps we can find during the week - which come out to about $150/week. She could go with friends in the evenings, but we've not been invited yet. We do have a neighborhood friend with a backyard pool, so we went there a couple times this summer. We can go to the county pools and water parks on weekends if we want. We miss the planned community we used to live in where we paid $40 for all of us to have access to 12 pools in the summer, which WAS worth the money.

I do hope at some point, her friends might start inviting her. That is how I got to go to the pool in the summer when I was younger - my parents never had a membership or a pool. Until then, we have a sprinkler and a small pool in the backyard that she and her little friend next door splash around in.

Will you pay the guest fee for your daughter to go? We pay for each friend to go once; if we invite the same friend more than once, we ask the parents to pay the guest fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me too OP! I'm just not into the pool. I enjoyed it as a child, and I'm sure I will get flamed or whatever but hanging out in the sun for hours at a time is different now. There are plenty of other things to do in the summer. Now admittedly, we work and our kids are in daycare, but we just got a nanny and it's possible that next summer the pool will be a good idea for them. So I may join, but I don't think it's an absolute. I do want my kids to learn how to swim though, but was thinking they would do that at lessons through the county rec centers, the Y, camps etc.

What do you do on the weekends with your kids?

Nobody seems to really have answered that question. Someone said they go to museums and stuff, but every weekend that seems like a lot of effort! Someone else said they play outside in the heat, but I can't imagine doing that for long in a typical DC summer either (this summer is an exception). I wonder if many of the anti-pool posters have either full-time daycare and/or very young children who can be easily occupied in the house for long periods of time. Mine are 4 and 7 and honestly if we didn't have the pool I don't know what we would do all summer!