Friday, June 20, 2008

Just suck it up and go to the pool

Yesterday afternoon my kids really wanted to go to the pool. Since I was already feeling peevish and whiny I refused. We actually have a really nice community pool here. It has an enormous shallow end with lots of fountains and sprayers and other fun stuff; it has two water slides, a huge grassy area, a big sand play area, a snack bar, and halfway decent locker rooms. It's a five-minute walk from our house. Of course, the kids love it (anyway I think that's a Little Kid Law, to love any and all swimming pools).

But yesterday I just wasn't up for changing the clothes and slathering the sunscreen and packing the stuff and blah blah. And I especially wasn't up for the post-pool herding of two children into the showers and back home (where I'd immediately have to move right into Dinner-Books-Bed mode).

So I brought out all my home-based water ammo: Let's play with the volcano sprinkler! How about you guys can spray each other with hoses! I'll blow up the little pool! They grudgingly agreed to the little pool. Which I then spent TWO HOURS trying to inflate with a bicycle pump. (Two hours, because I had to keep stopping to a] prevent myself from keeling over and b] check what mischief Opie was up to wandering around the house/yard by himself. Apparently, according to my husband we do have some kind of electric pump but all I could find was its tormentingly empty box.)

Of course the kids lost interest way before the pool was ever inflated. And my arms fell off and now I really don't look good in a bathing suit even if you do overlook my stretchmarks and smushy belly.

And so the moral of the story is I should have just taken them to the pool that didn't require inflating, mommy suit and all. Especially after last weekend's visit to The Waterpark Capital of the WORLD (where people wander all over wearing next to nothing and believe me, some of them need just a little more something), I have come to terms with my tankinis and swim skirts. When I go to the pool, I accessorize my post-kid body with a couple of cute kids and that means a lot.


This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by BOCA.

13 comments:

Suzanne said...

When I read your sentence about the hoses and the little pool, I have to admit that my very first thought was "Oh dear, too much work. Go to the pool!"

I like the idea of accessorizing my bathing suit with kids!

Amanda said...

We all look so much better when we do a little less tugging and a whole lot more laughing!

justmylife said...

I think the next time I would drag down to the pool!

the mama bird diaries said...

cute shades.

ok so next time, go to the pool.

Lady M said...

Best accessories ever!

Julie Pippert said...

Huh I just keep our pool inflated. My kids have turned into the Whiny McBickerson's and this makes me emotionally exhausted so I get peevish that way, too. But then I usually drag us down to the pool anyway. At least not when waiting TWO DAYS for a plumber.

Anyway you are probably far harder on yourself than you need to be about your figure in a swimsuit, and kids do make great accessories.

Anonymous said...

I promised myself at the end of last summer that my children and I would go to the pool more this summer. We don't have the kind of pool you do, we simply have the public pool but it really is nice...but we've yet to go there because mommy is a fat cow and can't stand the way she looks in a swimsuit......tankini's are what I crave...but I crave one that is long enough to cover me up. One piece suits have always been a problem for me because the size I should be able to wear only comes up to my boobs, doesn't cover them, just comes to the boobs with no material left to finish dressing me. Tankini's have caused a lot of the same problem, but I know, one day I shall find the perfect suit and when I do, we are going to the pool at least once a week.....maybe.

Magpie said...

i wish we had that kind of community pool...

we have a blow-up one, but i do know where the electric pump lives!

Mom101 said...

With kids like that no one would look at you if you looked like Beyonce in a suit.

Or, conversely, Mama Cass.

Anonymous said...

Yes, going to the pool is definitely easier in the long run... no inflating or cleaning up! And, although kids are a great accessory, it never fails that when I carry them my bathing suit top is pulled down too low and my strap falls off. Oh well, in the end it's best to just smile, jump in the pool and enjoy the fun and laughter with the kids.

Kimberly said...

"accessorize my post-kid body with a couple of cute kids" <--- I love this. I am going to try very hard to remember this the next time I need to show up in public in my swimsuit.

Julie Feinstein said...

Your kids are so ADORABLE!!!

I am a huge fan of the combo tankini aaaaand swim skirt myself. Got a really festive floral one in Hawaii on that recent trip.

Actually, I would have liked one back in high school. Never been a teeny bikini girl.

Anonymous said...

That is a GREAT idea. My kids are asking right now, when we're going...