Your thoughts on paddling pools?

[possum34]

I love the idea of them. Seeing kids happily playing all day in their own garden. In reality they give me the ick. How do you keep them clean? We also have dogs that would probably attack/pop them.
Is it easier to just take the kids swimming or to a public paddling pool?

Loved a paddling pool when my kids where little. Get one op so much fun and free after the initial outlay. We had one with sort of solid sides that you put together like a tent so no blowing up and a lid so win all round.

We used to put a spot of Milton in. Lasted fine for 3 days ish. You can put a fitted sheet over it overnight too.

I would be more careful of hygiene with a dog but I'd have thought it's worth a try. One of life's little pleasures with small children.

I had a decent sized one for a while. Had a pump and chlorine tablets etc, it was kept up all summer.

It was a ball ache if the chlorine etc had been forgotten.

I won't have another.

I empty it in the evening and either turning it upside down so nothing can drop in it if we’re using it the next day or dry it and deflate it we won’t be using it for a few days. A bit of a faff but we splashed out on a decent one with some Smyths vouchers our boys got for Christmas (they’re not old enough to decide what they want themselves yet really) so I’m wanting it to last a few summers ideally so taking extra care of it (probably won’t keep it up long term though 🙈😂)

Seriously tel him to take em out then. God sake tell him to fuck off

No one lets the water sit there for days! You fill it new each day.

Edit: most people don’t let it sit there for days.

Why would you leave the water in it for days on end?

Empty it every evening, spray with hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle, leave to dry.

Fill it up again the next day.

Send your silly partner off to the pool with the children three times a week for the foreseeable.

Get a chain for the dog. He can be released when the children come in for the evening.

Don't row with DH, just go & buy one! Theyre SO cheap! Or buy a bigger one that's big enough to use pool chemicals with. You might need to agree with DH on that one depending on how much you'd spend without each others agreement. They fit 4 adults in, so you can all get in. But because you can't empty it you'd have to be SUPER careful with the kids!!

a dog proof small one might be the best for this summer then get a bigger one for the whole of next summer.

but YOU are the one dealing with the kids every day!! Unless money is very very tight, I'm not sure why you'd need DH's agreement?

if you buy a small one just empty it out every day,

My kids loved water play when they were little. Paddling pool, emptied every 1-2 days, never got dirty. Sprinkler- great fun for running under. Slip’n’slide also fantastic.

We've found a slip and slide a good compromise takes two minutes to set up no standing water and the cat likes playing in it.

Alternatively do what my plumber brother has done and install an external hot/mixer tap so the water isn't cold

I had no idea people empty out their paddling pool water every night! I had quite a big one for a couple of years so didn’t have the time to empty and refill it every day but I bought a little net to scoop up grass and some liquid to keep the water clean otherwise it does go slippery with algae after a couple of days

We had a hard shell one that I emptied out that same day. Didn't discuss it, it barely cost more than a couple of pizzas.

A child can drown in them

Once you've got it out and filled up it's the best thing to keep them occupied, obviously how much supervision etc depends on the ages. Just empty it after a couple of days and refill ,so this may restrict the size you want. Otherwise a big tub or trug for small children to sit in. We usually made a water slide with thick polythene bought from DIY shop. They used this until they were about 15 and launched their lanky bodies with a thud. The best days. Or a garden sprinkler on the lawn, such fun to run through.

We use chlorine tablets in ours to keep it clean and I have a ‘pool vacuum’ (little thing that works with the hose) to clean out bits of dirt that evade the cover.

We spent a few hundred quid on a framed one. You buy pool chemicals to keep jt
clean and it lasts all summer. We’ve had it 4 years and the kids have been in it for 2/3 hours a day for the last 5 days. Best Buy we made

They are great, kids have had a lot of fun and use out of ours.

The small ones just empty the water every couple of days. If you get a bigger one you can get chlorine tablets and a pool floater to keep the water clean - ours has been up and filled for four weeks now with no water change. We remove debris by using a hose to siphon off when it settles to the bottom, put a sheet on overnight, and use a net to skim stuff. If we get a bigger one next year I’ll buy a pump and filter too.

Totally worth the small amount of time and effort.

Paddling pools are freezing cold water, usually full of grass and other debris from being stuck to the bottom of children's feet, insects floating around in them. That said, I loved a good Paddling pool when I was about 5.

My dog has her own paddling pool 😂 , a hard plastic one, no kids here now. My adult kids complained that they didn't have one when they were little. 🤣We didn't have anywhere suitable to put one at that time.

My son’s (20m) been in his every day this week. Ironically the one we have is marketed as a dog pool. It has rigid edges that fold down rather than inflated so it’s soooo easy.
I can’t say we actually clean it out other than emptying the water every day and giving it a bit of a blast with the hose before filling it up again.

I turn it upside down when we aren’t using it so it doesn’t get filled with bird poo.

there’s no way I’d consider taking him to the pool every day when we can just sit in the garden for free and not faff around with packing bags, etc. He can get in and out as he pleases and eat dinner in between splash sessions.

Actually, I think this has been the first week I’ve actually enjoyed being a parent thanks to some sunshine and the paddling pool.

I'm put off paddling pools by childhood memories of floating insects and rank water. My mum used to expect us to use it for a good 3-4 days once up. Hated the cold water, hated the faff of it all and feeling all covered in ick afterwards.

For my own children I really tried hard for it to be a different experience, but despite fresh warm water and nice associations they just never particularly enjoyed it. If they got 30 minutes out of it that was a good run, and they never asked to have it out.

Come to think of it they're like that with snow too. Initial excitement, 30 mins of playing, and then they're fed up of it and wishing it would melt away. Other activities can keep them interested for hours.

These things aren't essential, but if your children would enjoy it it seems a shame not to at least try.

We do have a hard plastic one but it's a bit little for the kids now. The reason I meant not emptying it daily was because I thinking of one of the larger pools that take forever to fill up. A smaller inflatable one wouldn't probably get popped immediately.
I don't need dh permission, it's more of a moan of him prioritising his dog and never thinking there's 'any point' in these things for the kids. Admittedly they'd probably be in and out a lot but who cares.

We have an old fitted sheet we put over ours when it's not being used to keep insects out. I don't know anyone that uses it for days on end, normally heatwaves only last a few days. When it's going to be hot I fill it up in the morning for them to go in in the afternoon so it's a bit warmer otherwise they only last two minutes. We have an old toddler slide that we put over it to make a water slide. It gets filthy but we hose it down.

A water toy that they never stop playing with though is a slide, with a length of pvc fabric at the bottom. They wet the whole thing with a water gun and then slide about 6m, its amazing.

We have a metal framed 10ft pool, with a pump filter and chlorine tablets. Kids love it and go in it all the time. Doesn't need emptying until the end of summer as the chemicals keep it clean - just like a regular swimming pool!

So work out the dosage of Chlorine granules to the amount of water for cold water pool and just dose it and test the water with a pool dip stick kit . Do it every morning and every night. Adjust the cultivate at night to give it time to work fit the morning. Get a new washing bowl/ cat litter tray and put that at the entrance to the pool as a foot bath to reduce contamination and soil/germs/debris and tell the kids they 100% must wash their feet before getting in. It's really easy once you have the hang of it. When the water needs changing the chlorine will have evaporated and so it poses no rush to plants/garden either.