Spending all day at the pool?

[longestlurkerever]

I'm aware this post is going to come across as judgy and I genuinely don't mean it to be as fully aware my holidays probably sound shit too, but I am curious about what people mean when they say they spend all day by the pool on holiday as i think i must have the wrong end of the stick. I bloody love pools and swimming and go most days even at homr but after an hour I'm ready to get out and dry and into the shade. Isn't it a bit uncomfortable spending all day in the pool? And even if you include "by" the pool, isn't it difficult to relax while there are kids playing and shouting and splashing you? And are the kids just nagging you to get back in the whole time? It's these kinds of reasons I've never been on a resort holiday or to center parcs but everyone I know seems to enjoy them and say the kids have a ball, so wonder if I'm missing out based on misconceptions.

I love pool days because my kids will happily play and mess about in the pool all day so I get to chill and read and just relax and watch them. I feel more relaxed at the pool than the beach as I don’t relax as much knowing the kids are in the sea. Plus drinks and snacks nearby as we usually do AI. I’ll get in with them for a bit and play catch and stuff but then plenty of chill time too.

We don’t do a hot weather/ swimming pool holiday every year as we like the variety (we = kids and me).

Last year we did, but the thing that made it brilliant was a swim up pool. Meant that youngest (ds, 9 at the time) could be in and out of the pool all day, whilst Dd 14 and I could like on the patio bit reading, but go in and out as we wanted. Swim ups were open to other families to come along on the other side so ds had people to play with.

We could go in and out of our room as needed, had plenty of shade etc - there was a bar really near by but we mainly used it all day to get milk for tea - I had brought tea bags with me - and the odd pineapple juice as I don’t like to drink during the day.

It felt private enough because the terrace bit wasn’t tiny. Also there was a main pool some way off, so it wasn’t millions of people using the swim ups.

To get one of these for a reasonable price I’d suggest booking the year before.

Then could just toddle off to the restaurant for meals.

We did hire a car for two days to see a bit of the sights though.

It’s not for me, but we go to hotels with no children allowed. When kids were kids we didn’t go to those places either tbf. 😅

This⬆️

I can spend all day at the beach but not by a pool. In fact I don’t even book hotels with pools any more.

When our DC was young we did a mix of Club Med/Mark Warner holidays where there was activities for kids and down time for us. Now we tend to go on short city breaks and a longer beach holiday just the 2 of us. We have been to the same place/ hotel 3 times as we love it. I find it hard to do lots of complete pool days as I get a bit bored and am not as keen on sunbathing as I used to be. We hire a car and mix up morning at the pool then drive/walk to a beach or local town. Evenings are spent walking to the local town for drinks or dinner. When I was younger (pre-kids) I loved a 2 week flop in the sun!

If the pool is in a lovely garden with palm trees and grass and shady areas I can easily spend all day there. After a late breakfast it's nice to relax and read the day's news, then go for a dip and swim a few lengths. Then dry off in the sun, retire to the shade and read a book for a while. Then back in the pool for a cooling dip- a little people watching from a distance and a little more reading. At about 2pm we would head to the pool bar for a glass of wine and lunch. Then return to the pool until about 5pm, alternating between chatting, reading, listening to music, swimming and sunbathing.

I absolutely do not want to be sat right next to the pool surrounded by concrete and within touching distance to anyone else. Neither do I want to be near lots of screaming kids, water slides, pool games or hotel activities.

I pick the hotel very carefully!

I’ve never been on a resort holiday, for hot holidays we always book a villa with a private pool (as that’s the sort of holidays I had as a child). So we might spend a morning or an afternoon just by / in our pool, children playing, us alternating swimming with reading books on sun beds, but never a whole day. I would be totally bored, as would the rest of my family. We’re pretty active though so tend to want to be out exploring- we all love swimming but also want to do other things too.

I couldn't go to one of those trashy places they show with people running to book a chair by the pool - I'd rather cut my toes off.

If you book a nice 5* hotel you rarely get shitty kids and you want one with a large pool to bedroom ratio and preferably a swim up pool bar.

Then yes, with decent shade or even better your own tented day bed, sitting in and around the pool is fabulous.

And if you want to be proper snobby, you can lower the star rating and simply book hotels that don't cater to Brits.

Possibly different because we don’t have kids so go outside school holidays and boom adults only hotels. Much more civilised in the pool area.

Lol, a lot seems to come down to the "classiness " of the hotel re kid noise etc whereas it seems to me that all kids are excitable in water, you wouldn't expect a pool catering to kids having fun to have the vibe of a spa hotel, or for the hotel management to be enforcing silence.

Anyway, thank you all for indulging me. I can sort of imagine how it might be relaxing if your kids aren't needy and just get on with having fun in the pool while you read. Mine really aren't tiny but I'm not sure they'd do.that. They aren't great at making random friends and my eldest is ND. She does chill a bit in nature and loves drawing so I might just about manage a chapter of a book on the beach or by a lake if she gets in the zone but I think a pool would be too stimulating to relax by and better just to go at the beginning and end of the day to actually play in the water.

Everyone is different. My husband and teenagers don't read (dyslexia, ASD) whereas I love it. They are always active where I am happy to laze. So we have generally had holidays where I lie by the pool or by the sea and read (and dip in and out) and they swim and play pool/water games quite seriously. We also do a waterpark day and usually hire a car for at least a few days, to get out and about.

I was lucky when the children were pre-teens as although they were always great swimmers, I wouldn't want to not be watching them. But DH was mostly with them so I had plenty of time to read.

I've known friends go all inclusive (we never do) and literally stay by the pool/beach for a fortnight. That wouldn't be my choice, and DH and the kids would hate it (unless there were loads of watersports) - but some people do just like to chill.

Horses for courses........

Having read through the thread, you have referred more than once to you getting over stimulated and sensory overload, and in your last post you are talking about one of your dc being ND.

Clearly, this is going to make a HUGE difference to your enjoyment and ability to relax as a swimming pool is right up there with a massive, crowded dining room in terms of being overwhelming for people with sensory differences.

It might have been helpful to have made that a key point in your opening post, as people have obviously been answering what it is like for them not for someone with sensory differences.

I find that last post a bit off tbh. I don't consider myself to have "sensory differences" necessarily, though I may do, if there's only one allowed way of experiencing the world. Obviously some environments are more stimulating than others, whatever your neural makeup and I enjoy stimulating environments, on the whole - I live in the city, I enjoy city breaks and music festivals and so on. But I don't find then relaxing and not sure many people do really. As you say, a swimming pool is a stimulating environment for me - the noise, the glare, the wet - so fun but not where I'd choose to go tk relax, although actually I do fund beaches relaxing if not too crowded and hot. People have painted a picture of shady loungers, set back from the pool and other people to help supervise their children, or even adult only environments altogether, so I can understand better now. Of course people can only comment from their own perspective but sharing perspectives can help people to understand things better. A lot of people have clearly not liked my question as they perceive a judgmental.tone and I can see why they think that but it genuinely isn't there. I'm not saying holidays should all be highbrow art and culture and achievement obviously some people enjoy that too, and the same might enjoy different things at different times. We are going to wales this year and I am happy to tell people what I like about that, if they're interested, even though I know it may not be their cup of tea.

I love the idea of a week by the pool, reading, swimming, podcasts and doing nothing.
In reality I feel sick after a few hours laying in the sun (even if under an umbrella, especially if trying to read) and I don’t have the attention span for it. It was my dad’s favourite type of holiday when we were young though as he had a very busy job and I remember absolutely loving it then. Playing in the pool for hours, coming back when dad got us a big plate of chips for sustenance, back in the pool, inevitably getting sunburned by the third day…

Not enough people are saying “siesta” as part of their day on holiday!

The other thing i should have said about our brilliant holiday of this kind is that I insisted we all took a siesta for an hour after lunch. That was amazing. Watching tv was an option, but we just had to be inside for that time. It’s better to be out of the sun at that time anyway so guilt free!

The only thing I’d have changed about that hotel was to have the pools open into the evening a bit longer but can’t complain as they were lifeguarded all day.

A villa with a private pool allows for lots of relaxation and lazy days spent reading without having to deal with other people. I also like to mix it up a bit with days out and days at the beach where I can choose less busy places to sit. This is nothing to do with sensory issues and everything to do with needing a break from our everyday life which is very full on and stressful.

I'm a voracious reader but would absolutely hate just lying by a pool reading for days on end I like to wander and explore the area I'm on holiday in