Does anyone feel like "pool life" doesn't work for you?
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Anonymous
| My kids are 5 mo 4 and 8. We joined a pool for the second year in a row and I really want it to work for us. I see families with kids my age..sometimes even 4 kids or families with a set of twins...staying at the pool for 3,4,5 hours everyday. I can't seem to get that down. I try and stay organized. A bag for towels, cooler, bag for toys, bag with extra clothes and diapers. It seems by the time I get everyone in their gear, get the bags ready, get into the car and going we are - 45 minutes. Older kids do well for the first hour usually. I try and get the baby to sleep in the stroller and join in. My 4 year old is fine in the baby pool so we maybe splash with the little one until she tires out. Then kids want to eat and then by hour 2 we generally break down. Baby either is up and overstimulated or tired and can't get into a good sleep. 4 year old wants to do more in the big pool but I'm unavailable for that. 8 year old sees friends and wants to stay longer but little kids can't handle it. It seems like I spend 45 minutes getting ready, maybe 90 minutes there are decent, last 30 terrible, then 45 minutes to get everyone back home and changed and repack the bag/wash towels/empty cooler. I don't know what to do to make this easier and longer?? What am I missing here?? |
Anonymous
| Maybe your kid's are just too little for this to be a good daily thing. I did this with one kid but different ages and still too young to swim in own is just a LOT. |
Anonymous
| I know that the people who make this work at my pool...with kids your ages...are simply not watching their children closely. You are a good mom and your exhaustion proves this. |
Anonymous
| We only go for one period between adult swim and adult swim. Occasionally we'll stay for two periods, but not often. |
Anonymous
| Huh? There is nothing wrong with going to the pool for only an hour or two! Why are you putting yourself under pressure to stay for longer? |
Anonymous
| Get the bags ready and in the car the night before after the kids are in bed. Hopefully it will be faster than 45 minutes, particularly if you get into your routine. If your kids get tired after an hour, leave after an hour. You don't need to spend hours there. |
Anonymous
| It’s boring. My kids go for a bit, but it’s small town suburban folks who have nothing else to do. |
Anonymous
| Have everything in the car prepped. Wear the baby so you can mosey into the big pool with the 4 yr old once the baby pool novelty wears off. Bring out the pool toys todraw out the pool so dont offer them right when you arrive, for example, and bring other toys (Dd brings her Barbies) to extend play on bvb the pool deck to allow 8 yr old to co tune play with his buddies. Just examples |
Anonymous
This. |
Anonymous
| We’ve belonged to a pool for six years - kids are now 5 and 7 - we go for two hours max. Always have and never occurred to me that it was weird? |
Anonymous
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My gap is different but 2 hours was also our limit. We are just not all day pool people.
My 6yo and 8yo did swim team when my baby was 5 months old. For practice, I would drop off and drive around with sleeping baby in AC car. I hired a pt sitter that summer. Kids are now 2, 8 and 10. Big kids aren’t even very excited to go to the pool. They are doing tennis team at pool club this summer. I have been dropping off and DH picks up. We have never been all day pool people. Has always been 2-3 hours including when we go on vacation. |
Anonymous
| I feel like i lived at the pool as a kid but my 5 and 3 yr old do 90 minutes max. They get tired and cranky and hot. I assume when they are older, we will be there longer but not yet. |
Anonymous
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I sort of feel like that’s the point of joining a pool. If you’re a member, you can just go for a couple of hours and it’s no big deal. There’s no guilt about wasting money on an entrance fee or whatever, because you can just come back tomorrow.
Your kids are so young, op. I’m impressed you get out of the house at all! |
Anonymous
| 5 months is a tough age to bring to the pool. I feel for you. We didn’t stay long or go often when mine were that young. But fast forward to now. Last summer my kids were 5 and 8 and pretty good swimmers - I didn’t even have to get in with them! They played together in the big pool while I mostly stayed on the side watching. It was the first time I felt relaxed. And since no one napped, we were able to go after lunch. I no longer bring lunch to the pool - wat roo much work. We eat at home and then head out. We stayed 2-3 hours in the afternoon! Your time will come eventually, but it’s not now. |
Anonymous
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How long is the drive?
Our pool is 5 min from our house so it’s not a big deal if our kids want to leave after 90 min. 1.5-2 hrs is generally how long we stat for |