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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DH and I at loggerheads..........AIBU or is he?? Does anyone hae a solution?!

36 replies

Dozymare · 01/07/2008 17:05

We are at loggerheads and I need some advice......

DH works very long hours and at the weekends he likes to BBQ or just chill in the garden (think very small London terrace sized garden, with borders and play area at the back, we are NOT gardeners and there are weeds everywhere

However, he is adamant that the kids can't have a paddling pool this year as it will ruin the grass as last year we left it up all summer, had amazing fun most days after school but at the end of the summer we were left with a massive mud patch....

I seriously can't be ar*ed to empty and fill a pool everyday, am pregnant and just want an easy time. however, I think he is being totally unreasonable as kids need to be kids and I have very happy memories of splashing in a pool all summer long.....

So, does anyone have any solutions????? Can you buy anything to save the grass?? Should I be posting this in gardening perhaps?? can you buy pool's that stand above the ground???!

Anyone...(or all you all to busy playing in your pool's on this glorious day

OP posts:
CountessDracula · 01/07/2008 17:06

Get astroturf
You can get stuff that looks very like grass now

theinsider · 01/07/2008 17:06

can the pool go on a patio area?

lulumama · 01/07/2008 17:06

we had our pool up all summer.. the grass /mud recovered and all grew back

surely the children being happy and having fun is worth more than a bit of grass that can be resown...

justageek · 01/07/2008 17:06

so you dont empty it? just leave the same old water in it day after day all summer long? eww lol, my two kids are young though so i know it would end up full of wee if i did that!

CountessDracula · 01/07/2008 17:08

\link[http://www.asgoodasgrass.co.uk\here}
look at before and after photos

mates had it done and it is superb

sagacious · 01/07/2008 17:08

I get the kids to empty the pool every day, they have little plastic watering cans and scoop it up and water the garden (saves me the job as well)

The water bill is the only downside to this

Original poster
Dozymare · 01/07/2008 17:08

probably emptied it once a week last year it did have a cover though!!!!!

OP posts:
edam · 01/07/2008 17:08

Could you move the pool around every couple of days so it's not sitting on the same patch of grass all summer?

(And a few drops of tea tree oil will stop the water going manky if you aren't emptying it every day.)

justageek · 01/07/2008 17:09

well i think your husband is being unreasonable, kids need to play!

themildmannneredjanitor · 01/07/2008 17:09

he's being a nob.

you can get plastic matting stuff that the grass grows through for putting under swings and stuff. maybe some of this would do the trick?

savoycabbage · 01/07/2008 17:09

Are you married to my husband? I have just been through this exact thing.

My mother has told us to chuck some grass seed at the end of the summer and it will be fine.

dittany · 01/07/2008 17:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DarthVader · 01/07/2008 17:10

you can get pumps/filters/chemicals for paddling pools

why not buy turf for any muddy patch underneath?

robinpud · 01/07/2008 17:10

Have the pool, then get a trampoline and use that to cover the ruined patch of grass!

Original poster
Dozymare · 01/07/2008 17:11

yes I think he is being a k**b as well.....whilst he admits that the kids should come first, he still is standing firm on the no pool issues......i want to get a bigger pool (sort of pop up with a pump type, as have had little ones such as ELC so the next one ahs to be an investment, so if anyone can recommend, please do!)

I would understand maybe if he was a gardener but he;s not!

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 01/07/2008 17:12

Hmm - you're pregnant and he is working long hours so you have children to amuse, ideally without trekking all over London to do so?

He is being unreasonable. Offer him CD's solution as a compromise, other than that he should live with it and rescue the grass at the end of the summer.

Original poster
Dozymare · 01/07/2008 17:13

Ha Ha savoycabbage it must be some masculine thing about mowing the lawn or some such ridiculous neanderal theory eh!

OP posts:
savoycabbage · 01/07/2008 17:13

No neither is mine!

HonoriaGlossop · 01/07/2008 17:17

If he is going to be at home, amusing the children, and carrying another child, then of course he is entitled to issue diktats on paddling pools

what's that you say? He's NOT planning on doing that?

Then.....no opinion, IMO

Kimi · 01/07/2008 17:18

Put the pool up, lord above what is a bit of dead grass and mud when it is your childrens childhood memoreys at stake...if he objects hold him under water till he gives in

Twiglett · 01/07/2008 17:20

say "Look nobhead .. I am not going to spoil my children's summer for the sake of a patch of grass. So get a life"

Twiglett · 01/07/2008 17:22

as good as grass? wtf? no .. grass is grass, plastic is plastic and ne'er the twain shall meet

HonoriaGlossop · 01/07/2008 17:23

the more I think about this the sadder it is

What will the children remember - long sunny days splashing in the water or looking out at the garden thinking 'we're not allowed to ruin the grass'

the grass is THERE to be used not looked at!

ELR · 01/07/2008 17:27

just put one up its you that has to entertain them all summer

HermanMunster · 01/07/2008 17:27

surely the compromise is to have the pool up but to empty it every day so the grass doesn't get ruined.
you get pool.
he gets grass.

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