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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not like the school taking the kids swimming this time of year?

87 replies

CherrySkull · 12/01/2017 22:26

Yes i know i am, but its like.. one of those ingrained things i learned on my mothers knee

Don't go out with wet hair when its cold!

It's like there is a constant shouting match going on in my head between Sensible Cherry and Old Wives Tale loving Grandma!

Every time DD (7) mentions she's got swimming class tomorrow, its like Old Grandma suddenly sits up and goes "she shouldn't be out with wet hair in this cold, she'll get sick, they shouldn't be taking the little kids outside in this cold straight from a hot swimming pool when they never dry themselves properly and are still damp with wet hair!" and then Sensible Cherry tells her to sit down and shut up, but she carries on grumbling ominously in the background.

Anyone else have those kind of inner wars with themselves? Or am i just nuts? shush

OP posts:

IMissGrannyW · 12/01/2017 23:06

Kids LOVE water.

Kids are drawn to water.

Kids that can't swim might easily get into trouble and drown.

Swimming is an important life skill, and lots of parents don't teach it.

They'll recover from a cold.

Just saying.........

IMissGrannyW · 12/01/2017 23:07

p.s. Before I get biscuits, I will just say that although I love this site, it's a bit first world sometimes.

This is one of those threads. Ok, throw them at me

paxillin · 12/01/2017 23:07

Never thought about it. Woolly hat and off they pop.

BertieBotts · 12/01/2017 23:09

Well, probably it made sense 50 years ago when children didn't have proper outdoor clothing? I mean they used to make boys wear shorts all year round FFS.

Today they seem obsessed with wrapping them up in all manner of hats and coats and scarves. If that helps

brasty · 12/01/2017 23:09

I used to read Victorian novels. In them if a woman was caught out in the rain, and had to walk home, she always caught cold and died.

AllPizzasGreatAndSmall · 12/01/2017 23:10

Hell yes. But that is what swimming caps are for.

No it isn't. They wear hats to make it easier for them to be spotted if they go under.

WingMirrorSpider · 12/01/2017 23:10

My DH likes to tell of his school days when they had to break the ice on the outdoor pool to use it. He went to one of those schools where it would have been considered character building.

brasty · 12/01/2017 23:11

In terms of swimming, kids used to go back to classrooms with a real fire. Most of the classroom was very cold. Kids would never be expected to work in such cold conditions now.

LadyLapsang · 12/01/2017 23:18

Be pleased they are learning to swim. Good exercise and helps keep them safe. Teach them to wrap up warmly afterwards.

Hohumming · 12/01/2017 23:18

No it isn't. They wear hats to make it easier for them to be spotted if they go under.

I never knew that. I always thought it was for hygiene and to stop hairs clogging up the pool and drains! I learn something new on this site every day!

Lunde · 12/01/2017 23:20

Well at least in the UK they don't have to do the isvak as Swedish kids do where you jump through a hole in the ice on a frozen lake into the freezing water to learn ice rescue proedures

QueenofLouisiana · 12/01/2017 23:29

The caps are to stop longer hair getting caught in the pool drains. They also stop hair getting in faces etc. As there will always be an unholy row about what constitutes longer hair, we make all children wear them.

If the children are dressed properly, there shouldn't be a huge problem with them going from one extreme to the other. In fact it takes so long for a class to get sorted out (20 mins this week) that it's a very gradual adjustment between swimming and going outside! I did worry about the girl who clearly had no knickers on though- we found someone. We asked each girl quietly and privately. No-one wanted the ones we found, we couldn't exact check!

FWIW DS is in the pool for 8hrs a week, including st 6am today. He is also asthmatic. He rarely gets colds. Grumpy and hungry definitely, not colds though.

WankStainWasher · 12/01/2017 23:35

People get sick from germs, not going out in the cold with wet hair.

arethereanyleftatall · 12/01/2017 23:36

On the strength of this thread I've just bought one of those hat towel things from amazon.

llangennith · 12/01/2017 23:37

No bus from here. The kids have a 20 minute walk there and back. They usually swim this week but the HT put her foot down and Y4 aren't doing their 3 weeks swim till summer.

LockedOutOfMN · 12/01/2017 23:38

OP, are you Spanish? It's accepted "medicine" here that going outside with wet hair makes you sick. So at our school all of the children have to dry their hair or have it dried for them before they walk from the pool to the main school building - about ten steps outdoors, maybe fifteen steps for the toddlers.

tattychicken · 12/01/2017 23:49

Please don't use asthma as an excuse. Well controlled and monitored asthma does not impact on a child's ability to walk to and from their lessons, nor on their swimming. Wet hair doesn't cause illnesses. I'm asthmatic and have children who are asthmatic.

HearTheThunderRoar · 12/01/2017 23:50

DD's school use to only have swimming during the summer terms, admittedly this is mainly because the school had their own pool which was hard to maintain all year around and the changing rooms had no heating.

That said, my DD use to do competitive swimming and she rarely caught colds, in fact when she gave up she got ill more often.

Davros · 12/01/2017 23:51

Get one of those micropore turbans. It will dry her hair a bit more while she dries the rest of herself and gets dressed. She'll be fine. Shame they can't get Bovril out of the vending machine after like we used to, that would keep anyone healthy

noeffingidea · 13/01/2017 00:39

They make kids walk back to school from swimming? Thats great. My kids school used to hire a coach to take them less than a mile down the road.
I think you're being unreasonable, OP. Bad weather shouldn't be a reason for not doing things. I go swimming in all weathers, and walk home, I never even notice the cold.

Weatherforecaster · 13/01/2017 06:46

Don't be daft. I used to be a competition swimmer. It doesn't do any harm to have wet hair in the Winter. I still wash my hair in the morning and leave it to dry naturally. I walk to work. It's snowing this morn and I still won't dry my hair. I will be fine.

AmeliaJack · 13/01/2017 06:54

Buy her a fleecy hat and teach her how to dry herself properly. She's 7yo.

paxillin · 13/01/2017 11:27

What a waste of an AIBU, Weatherforecaster! Your wet hair to work has such bunfight potential, slovenly vs. groomed, wasteful vs. environmental, catch a death vs. will turn you hardy and healthy... .

GreenTureen · 13/01/2017 11:42

I'm the same op.

DS1 (8) goes swimming weekly for one half term a year, starting in Year 3. Last year his turn was in the Summer Term so I didn't give it a thought.

This year, his turn is now, right after Christmas and I have the same uncontrollable internal grumblings which have just been drilled into me from a child. The 5 minute drive to school on swimming day consists of me reminding him three times to use the hairdryer, dry inside his ears and make sure he dries himself properly before getting dressed with him going 'Yes mum, i'm not a baby you know'

LittleLionMansMummy · 13/01/2017 11:50

I too thought swimming caps were for hygiene reasons, to stop the pool filters clogging up.

Anyway, either a swimming cap or a hairdryer will prevent the internal dialogue between sensible Cherry and Old Wives Tale Cherry. Most pools have the latter these days!

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