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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Not to heat the paddling pool?

121 replies

justwhiisitwhosvotingtory · 30/05/2017 16:13

I've just been told off again for expecting a friends DCs to play in an 'unheated' paddling pool. It was 28 degrees and I filled the pool with cold water early in the day so it could warm up in the sun all day for when the DCs came home from school.

Apparently I should have filled the pool with warm water or used lots of kettles to top it up. FWIW none of the DCs complained and the only ones who got a bit chilly were mine (much skinnier!). The only complaints were when we asked them to get out... but this is the second friend who has made a fuss...

I'm a Scot and both of the friends are from families from much warmer places so wondering if AIBU?

What do you do?

OP posts:
notangelinajolie · 30/05/2017 17:05

Your pool, your rules. We have one of those big 15ft ones and TBH I do attach the hosepipe to the hot water for the last half an hour just to take the temperature up a smidgen but that's for me because I like half an hours peace on the lilo before the kids decend home from school and turn the water into some murky grass infested swamp. The kids don't care what temperature it is.

YouWhatMate · 30/05/2017 17:06

I would maybe tell them that cold water improves circulation and the immune system, relieves stress and depression, is good for the skin and hair, and numerous other benefits :) Google it!

Oldraver · 30/05/2017 17:06

I'd be telling the friends to take their kids home and heat up their own pool

Willyoujustbequiet · 30/05/2017 17:11

North East here. Garden tap.

that's the whole point of the paddling pool - to cool you down.

Once you're used to the North Sea up here anything else is positively tropical.

Highalert · 30/05/2017 17:20

It's not weird to use a bit of hot water. Have I broken another of MN rules?

migrating · 30/05/2017 17:22

I am still waiting for a day in this country when I really need to cool down Grin

plantsitter · 30/05/2017 17:25

DD's best friend's mum puts loads of kettles of hot water in theirs. Also she lets them watch as much telly as they like. And they have chips for tea every day. Apparently Hmm.

I caved and put one kettle's worth in once but then got bored and channelled my own dear mother 'That's your lot and lump it'.

SuburbanCrofter · 30/05/2017 17:25

Plastic slide arranged so it lands in the paddling pool, hose from tap gaffer-taped to top of slide so the water runs down it creating a water slide - job done. Grin

(And no it never occurred to me to heat paddling pool water...]

NImbleJumper · 30/05/2017 17:31

The whole point of paddling pools is that it's cold water.

tinypop4 · 30/05/2017 17:33

I would never ever think to heat a paddling pool! Water goes straight in from hose pipe here! They'll get out if they're cold and it'll warm up if it's sunny anyway

CakeNinja · 30/05/2017 17:42

I used to chuck a few kettles worth of hot water in to take the edge off. Made them happier. Really very little effort on my part. Meh.

SummerMummy88 · 30/05/2017 17:52

I fill the paddling pool from the tap so it's warm, you can get chills and other ailments from sitting in cold water.

c3pu · 30/05/2017 18:00

My kids have been in the sea two days running, and I can assure you that it didn't occur to me to try and heat it up.

QuimReaper · 30/05/2017 21:53

toffee what did happen with that one?

HerBluebiro · 30/05/2017 21:54

Cold water from the garden tap. And toddler dd loves it. The weirdo.

Only problem is she wants me to join in. And it is bloody freezing. She clearly has geordie blood somewhere

fannydaggerz · 30/05/2017 22:06

I put cold in and then add hot water to warm it up a bit.

PurpleMinionMummy · 30/05/2017 22:07

I was just thinking about that toffee. Maybe they had a giant pool to heat!

GerdaLovesLili · 30/05/2017 22:12

People heat paddling pools? The end is clearly nigh!

melj1213 · 30/05/2017 22:50

I think the closest I've ever had to heating a paddling pool was when I'd broken the outside tap so attached the hose to the kitchen tap and left it to run while I helped DD get her swimsuit on ... when I got outside and picked up the hose, it felt warm and it turned out one of the cats had knocked the mixer tap over to hot water, It can't have been on hot for long because the water was still cold, but the little bit of hot had just taken the edge of the normally frigid water.

LockedOutOfMN · 30/05/2017 22:55

In Spain all of our pools are always freezing cold.

AirandMungBeans · 30/05/2017 22:59

My mum used to put kettles of hot water into ours as children, as well as the cold from the hose. It never really occurred to me to do the same. I fill it up early and let the sun warm it, then let the DC go wild until they start turning blue Grin

Mumoftu · 30/05/2017 23:03

The whole point of a paddling pool is to help the kids keep cool in the heat I thought? Why would you heat the water? I wouldn't want to splash in tepid water on a really hot day.

Givemeallthechocolate · 30/05/2017 23:03

Oh gosj. My fondest childhood memory! Cold paddling pools! I hated them at the time but now I look back fondly remembering!

Those were the days!

lottiegarbanzo · 30/05/2017 23:05

This falls into the category of 'things I have learnt on Mumsnet' (that I shall share in whispered awe), "did you know, some people heat paddling pools?".

Givemeallthechocolate · 30/05/2017 23:06

I also wanted to add,I'm a heathen. I bought a layz spa for DD so she would never have to "suffer as I did"

I may need to get a bit of a grip. Even worse is she has told me about her friends paddling pools being better because they are cold! I missed the point it seems!