A couple posts back I reprinted a quote from Vicious Victoria, or whatever she calls herself, about above ground pools and tramps representing white trash. I mean tramps, the kind you jump on trampolines.
If you have kids 8 – 14 years old, an above ground pool is a GREAT way to spend your money. I don’t feel the same about trampolines. Trampolines just don’t have the long lasting entertainment value. After a dozen jumps what’s left? Do you want a half dozen kids in your back yard on a tramp? Two seem to be the max at one time, so the others are pretty much bored, or arguing over who goes next.
I realize a kid 8 – 14 can dive in a pool and break a neck, but adults have been known to dive into 4 foot pools too. *ahem* me. So there are safety hazards.
But having the kids gather in our yard to swim, with limitations on the numbers, is better than having our kids at somebody else’s house doing whatever.
Plus: getting a teenage girl to babysit on Saturday and/or Sunday for hours while we played golf was a piece of cake. Back in the day, baking to a crispy golden brown in the real sun was the only way to get a tan. No chemicals, no tanning beds. It took hours of laborious laying around for days. It was hot work too. Being able to roll off the deck into a pool every few minutes made the teenage girls living next door very happy to babysit for us.
I actually enjoyed cleaning the pool too.
When it was time to clean the pool, I would tell the kids to make a whirlpool by everybody running in the same direction along the circumference of the pool. When four or six kids start running they can get that water into a nice whirlpool. Then we made a game out of jumping out one at a time so the whirlpool wasn’t slowed down.
How does that help cleaning the pool? All the hair, yes, girls with long hair exposed to massive amounts of chlorine for hours everyday, lose a lot of hair, and other debris – leaves, underwater toys, and beer bottles would be swept to the middle of the pool.
After the raging whirlpool was calm, I would ease myself in with the long hose and carefully vacuum a relatively small area!
No kids. Just me. Usually about 7 or 8 p.m. Then it was adult swim. Or adult float-around-on-air-mattresses, catching a smooch as we floated by each other.
I bet our kids were in the best shape of their lives during this period too. Literally hours splashing around ended with the total aerobic whirlpool exercise. They still stayed up until all hours during the summer, but they seemed to be much more mellow after swimming all day.
Don’t think those POOLS INSTALLED FOR JUST $499 have been lost on us.
If I just had somebody to jump in and make a whirlpool for me daily!
You’re talking me into another one quickly. Will just have to borrow the grandkids now and then I guess.
@Angela: Or adults only – and they all have to wear those lame swimming caps! Remember those rubber things?
Remember them? I have several…hot pink, lime green, sky blue…imagine that! LOL! J/K! They’re all neon orange.
Spread the word…it’s a new trend…I just started it. The point is to deflect attention from aging Boomers’ thinning locks. Actually serves to deflect attention from LOTS of Boomer issues.
Think it’ll work?
@Angela: You will need a catchy branding slogan. Something like that can deflect attention from other body problems too!
No “attractive nuisances” for us. Trampolines and pools are both huge, huge liability issues. The more neighborhood kids gather at your home to use them, the more your potential liability.
OMG, I remember those stupid swim caps. Hate, hate, hate. Those were dark days, having to wear a hat or veil to Mass and a swim cap at the pool.
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@Gretchen: Yup, also back in the day we didn’t have personal injury lawyers advertising more than car dealers. (same quality ads)
And I always thought when Dad had us make a whirlpool it was because he wanted to see us having fun. Turns out he was just getting us to help clean the pool.
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@Redneck Diva: Oh, you know Paul always has an ulterior motive if it involves the kids, right?
I’ll be happy to get the whirlpool going with a few friends – how soon can it be installed?
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@Nancy: Now wait… you have to have friends lift you into the bed on a houseboat because it’s so high and you think you guys can get out of a whirlpool? HAR.
Slightly off topic perhaps, but a request for you to think about the ethics of buying cheap trampolines. Please try and consider, for example, the things the item is made from, the conditions of the employees where they’re made and the ethics of the retailer. Oh, and try to repair your trampoline instead of discarding. Thanks!!!!
Thanks for this article, these days there is more to swimming pool safety than meets the, between sharp objects and misuse of chemicals.
i always prefer to use above ground pools because they are safer in my opinion“~