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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to not want to go swimming?

33 replies

Newmummytobe79 · 07/01/2012 14:38

My DH thinks I'm odd but my friend feels exactly the same way as me - so who is being unreasonable?

SIL takes her children swimming quite often - which is why DH thinks I'm odd.

But ...

I hate swimming baths in the UK. I hate being so undressed in public, I hate getting my hair wet, I hate the way your socks get wet when you're nearly dressed, I hate being cold when you come out of the baths, I hate the memories of used plasters and lumpy talc on the floor of the school baths etc etc etc.

I love swimming abroad. I like jumping into a cold pool on a scorching day, I like the fact I have a tan and look a bit better near on undresssed, I like the way the sun dries me off in minutes etc etc etc

I'm a good swimmer. My parents took me to lessons when I was younger and I swam with school. My sibling swam for the county. My parents never actually took us into a pool in the UK (that I can remember) but made sure we could swim well from a young age and we were very lucky to enjoy yearly holidays abroad where we all splashed around in the pool and the sea together. I don't feel emotionally unstable because we never went swimming as a family in the UK

Therefore am I denying my child anything by not taking them swimming in the UK? My DH can happily take DC when old enough and I will enrol DC for swimming lessons from an early age.

I am more than happy to stand on football pitches in the rain, watch endless ballet shows, colour in, paint, bake etc etc ... just please don't make me go swimming!

So who is being unreasonable here?

OP posts:

theincredibequeenofwands · 07/01/2012 14:39

YANBU

A 'soup' of other people's hair, spit, blood and dead skin cells?

No, no, no!!!

NettoHoHoHoSuperstar · 07/01/2012 14:40

I won't go either, for all the same reasons.
The thought makes me queasy.
I don't want other people's foot skin and secretions touching me

GracieW · 07/01/2012 14:40

You should go for your DC's sake, children generally love swimming and the earlier the better.

Having said that, I do wish you could come out of the pool and magically click your fingers and hey presto, everyone's dry and dressed

rubyslippers · 07/01/2012 14:41

I loathe it and never do it

DS has lessons and I watch from the side lines

We all went swimming in the summer in a warm pool in the blazing sun tho

cardibach · 07/01/2012 14:41

I know exactly what you mean. I love swimming, but hate swimming baths, especially the pretty scummy ones mear me. Before I moved I belonged to a lovely private health club and it was fine there, so I did take DD whenshe was younger. I rarely go now.

I think as long as you are sure that they can swim and they get practice with your DH, YANBU.

kreechergotstuckupthechimney · 07/01/2012 14:44

YANBU. I quite enjoy swimming and DD loves it. I can't bring myself to get into the water with her at our local pool.
I generally arrange to take her and a friend. That's the key to it. I can sit and spectate then.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 07/01/2012 14:45

YANBU. I feel exactly as you do
it's not the being in the water i have a problem with, but the grotty changing rooms, the cold, the dds mithering because they are cold, dry clothes getting wet, the ensuing freakazoid hair, remembering to sort out my bikini line....

so i don't go.
dd1 swims in a weekly lesson, dd2 will start when she's old enough to go without me.

some kids parents don't bake, or do craft, or take them to the park with bikes, or the zoo, or riding, or to see shitey films at the cinema.

Acandlelitshadow · 07/01/2012 14:46

I made sure the DC had lessons and were competent in and around water and considered my duty done. Wallowing in chlorinated piss lost its appeal years ago.

Binfullofsiliconelimbsonthe45 · 07/01/2012 14:55

I won't go in winter for all of those reasons plus...trying to put a bra on with semi dry skin, uugghh. Having a big red face because the changing rooms are so hot and red beelzebub eyes from the chlorine. Trying to shower through your swimsuit so you don't smell of chlorine all day.

And...... How do you get your pants on without getting the gusset soggy.?

In summer here they have a lot of outdoor pools, we go in our bathers with shorts on and then just walk back to the car in our towels.

The pool is cool and fresh water, not chlorinated and it's just lovely....however before I can revisit i do need to bleach my brain of the memory of an expat lady crouched lotus style infront of me on our last visit to the pool with the largest, fluffiest bush I've ever seem peeking out of either sides of her gusset.....it looked like she'd trapped Leo Sayer down there!!

troisgarcons · 07/01/2012 14:57

shudders Spaddling other peoples piss ikk ikk ikk

littlemisssarcastic · 07/01/2012 14:59

How do your DC learn to swim if you don't take them in the pool?

I am another who hates going swimming, and so far, I haven't taken DD swimming, but I would like her to learn how to swim. I would be surprised if she would go into the water with other children, but without me, for a swimming lesson if she has never even been to a pool before.

BackforGood · 07/01/2012 15:04

It's one of those things I did because I felt I ought to - I share your hatred, and was counting down the days until my youngest was 8 and they could go on their own.
I do think it's important all dc learn to swim - apart from the safety aspect, it just opens up so many other opportunities to them once they are in their teens - from other water sports (kayaking, rafting, sailing, surfing, etc.,etc.), to all the social side of going swimming with friends, enjoying the sea and pool on holidays, etc.
I took all of mine when they were babies, and they were all then pretty confident in and around water when they started lessons.

At the end of the day, it's up to you - the more familiar they are, the easier they take to it.

Shutupanddrive · 07/01/2012 15:42

Why don't you enrol them in swimming lessons then you can watch from the side and drink coffee

hellhasnofury · 07/01/2012 15:47

I hate it and now allow myself the luxury of not going unless I have to. I took the kids when they were small and spent years of my life at a pool when they were both swimmers but I don't have to do it any more so I don't. I do have to go at work, once a week for 15-20 minutes but I usually only get wet to the waist and don't fully submerge unless I have to.

backwardLFDTpossom · 07/01/2012 15:51

I take DS swimming to tire the little bugger darling out. Guaranteed 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

I don't mind it actually and DS loves it.

jubilee10 · 07/01/2012 16:07

I love swimming - how can anyone not love swimming. My children love swimming too. That special silence when you swim under the water. All the amazing things you can do that you can't do on dry land (well I can't), somersaults, floating. The total peace to think, chill out, sort out your head, if you go on your own. The fun if you take the children. We go every weekend -sometimes twice. But-I don't do baking, and football - only under duress and not in the rain!

redexpat · 07/01/2012 18:50

Jubilee I hate swimming. I hate showering naked infront of strangers (am abroad), I hate everything because wet and cold, the chlorine in the water sets off my asthma, even when you shower you're not properly clean, even when you dry yourself you're not properly dry, it is knackering and I just don't enjoy it. Am delighted that baby swimming here is in the early evening so DH can take DS.

Cherriesarelovely · 07/01/2012 18:53

Totally understand where you are coming from. It is a right faff. However, my dd was swimming phobic and terrified of her swimming teacher so I felt duty bound to make myself take her regularly. It has been great actually, she is now swimming like a fish and I love it. Not so much in the winter though!

IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll · 07/01/2012 18:55

I don't like it either. But I think you should make the effort to go sometimes, it is good for the children.

Swimming lessons arent the same as splashing around with a parent there, and they will progress quicker with lesson of they have already discovered that swimming is fun, it's ok to go under and they have had a chance to become confident in the water.

Why don't you suggest that you go at the weekend so that your dh can look after the dc while you shower properly? That's what I do.

You don't even have to get your hair very wet if you are just going into the baby pool.

EmmaBemma · 07/01/2012 18:57

YANBU. I love going swimming on my own, I go one early morning a week and swim a mile in the "training" pool at our local leisure centre. But that's no nonsense, quick change, in-and-out. I find family swimming a purgatorial experience and I only go (and plaster a smile on my face to do so) because my husband and children enjoy it so much.

EndoplasmicReticulum · 07/01/2012 18:57

I hate swimming pools. The actual swimming is fine, it's all the other stuff. The dirt, the ick, the smell. YANBU.

I learnt to swim in the sea, I love swimming in the sea. Although there is gunk in there, it's a lot more diluted!

squeakytoy · 07/01/2012 19:00

all you sea swimmers, you do realise that raw sewage gets pumped into the sea, dead animals float about in it, and it is just as likely, if not more, to give you an upset stomach if you swallow it...

mishtake · 07/01/2012 19:15

OP I am with you all the way.
I love swimming but ...
I hate the noise of indoor swimming pools.
I hate the smell of them.
I hate the damp floors and changing cubicles.
I hate the spotty 19 year old lifeguards gazing gloomily at all the old dears bobbing about in their swim hats.
I hate the lane swimmers who barrel up and down barging everyone out of the way.
But I love to swim in the sea and I really mourn the passing of so many lidos in this country - swimming outdoors is the only way to do it.
We used to swim in our local river years ago - jumping in off the weir. Not an adult in sight. Heaven!

Sparklingbrook · 07/01/2012 19:19

What is it with the people in goggles and stupid hats doing lengths during 'family swim' hour? Ridiculous.

I do take my DSs swimming. They go in the pool and I sit in the cafe with a magazine.

lovechoc · 07/01/2012 19:22

I can't understand people who never take their children swimming, tbh. It works both ways...

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