Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
kel1234 · 31/05/2017 00:13

We always fill it up warm tbf.

rollonthesummer · 31/05/2017 00:27

Who told you off? Someone who had given you their child to look after for the day??

LollyLarkin · 31/05/2017 06:59

Oh a heated paddling pool is lovely, my mum also used to add bubble bath! We'd stay in there for hours when we were little. In hindsight maybe it was a small price to pay for a bit of peace and quiet for her. My DS will probably have his pool topped up with hot water to take the edge off at the very least. I never realised it was controversial!

exLtEveDallas · 31/05/2017 07:13

Those pool heaters cost an absolute bomb. Not the heater itself, but the electric it uses. We had one once when DD was little and discovered that a weeks worth of use cost us about £200! Very quickly binned.

megletthesecond · 31/05/2017 07:25

No one heats a paddling pool do they? The sun takes the chill off after a while.

SoupDragon · 31/05/2017 07:42

From this thread yes, they clearly do!

Trifleorbust · 31/05/2017 08:42

You didn't hold them down. They could have removed themselves if they were uncomfortable.

ChocChocPorridge · 31/05/2017 09:29

I confess that in the UK I've been known to take the chill off (hot tap, not kettles - you'd have to be too careful not to get the vinyl soft) - but it would never be described even as luke warm, just not absolutely freezing.

Sparrowlegs248 · 31/05/2017 09:32

I added some hot water last year but Ds was only 1. If they were older I'd not heat it.

wonkylegs · 31/05/2017 09:36

We fill it with the hose, I try and do it earlier in the day and let it warm in the sun but our 1yo is not a patient baby and will not wait for his brother to come home so if he spies it earlier we go out and have a splash even if it's freezing.

Woolly17 · 31/05/2017 09:43

Good grief! Isn't the point of the paddling pool to cool you down??

My parents would fill the paddling pool with cold water and let the sun do its job (and I grew up in very northerly latitudes) it was fine. There was the odd occasion when they'd top it up with a bit of hot water - like when they hadn't filled it early enough and my sister and I were bouncing around the perimeter 'waiting patiently' for the sun to hit it.

DorkMaiden · 31/05/2017 09:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rhodiolia · 31/05/2017 09:59

Scotland here. I have never heated a paddling pool!

Animara · 31/05/2017 20:54

Who the heck heats a paddling pool! Does she get the pool guy in to sieve out the grass and dead bugs?

Animara · 31/05/2017 20:55

Who ever heats a paddling pool?? Does she get the pool guy into sieve out the grass and dead bugs too

Pixiemamma26725 · 31/05/2017 21:03

We usually bring a paddling pool out in hot weather to keep the kids cool why would you fill it with hot water!!! Weirdos 😂😂

MrGrumpy01 · 31/05/2017 21:04

I did when they were small - but the pool was so small it only took a few buckets. Now we mainly use the sun but if needs be I would chuck a couple of warm buckets in to just take the chill off. The water table I use warm water.

Last week the sun did the work though.

RandomMess · 31/05/2017 21:05

I always used to warm it up a bit but no way would I complain if someone else didn't!!! One of my DC is always cold and shivering though tbh so that has probably influenced my paddling pool etiquette!

GreenPetal94 · 31/05/2017 21:08

in Scotland we rarely get to use a paddling pool, but I have been known to boost up heat with a kettle for littlies. But at 28 deg you should be adding ice-cubes.

Florin · 31/05/2017 21:09

I am a softy ds (4) has his heated to 36 degrees Blush However when we got it he used to scream blue murder just at the ideal of a bath so we thought there was no chance he would go in a cold one. He will now spend hours in his pool and isn't scared of the bath now either.

Babyonboard101 · 31/05/2017 21:10

What does she want, the rain to be heated before it hits her children too? Ffs they're kids. Nobody died. It's a paddling pool not a jacuzzi.

Rhayader · 31/05/2017 21:15

I put a couple of kettles in if the water is straight from the tap.... but DS is 12 months.

itsonlysubterfuge · 31/05/2017 21:26

we warmed ours for baby DD, now that she is 4 she gets the cold water.

2crazyboysandstillalive · 31/05/2017 21:41

I confess, I heat the paddling pool, it has cold water from hose pipe then i fill up buckets of hot water to make it fairly warm (OK who am I kidding it's very warm) but tbf, this is my personal choice and it means the kids actually stay and play in there I have never topped it up once the water has cooled down. (also I may also be scarred from having freezing cold water in my paddling pool as a kid hence the hot water!)

OP next time "a friend" tells you off, tell them to host a paddling pool play date and they can do what they want. Your house your rules.

This shouldn't be controversial, it's just everyone has their own preference!

User04812 · 31/05/2017 21:43

The paddling pool only comes out when it's really hot - isn't that the fun, cooling off and jumping in and out when it's freezing water. Never heard of anyone who heats theirs round here!