Last week when Alex was going up and down the pool slides four or nine hundred times every afternoon, I had plenty of time to ponder Many Deep Thoughts of Staggering Thoughtfulness. And I would like to talk about one of those thoughts at this juncture, oh thank you.
Here it is.
There are a lot of people who go to the pool without ever getting in the pool. They just sit beside the pool. And then, if they do get in the pool, they do not put their heads in the water.
I do not understand.
Because to me the no-swimming option at the pool is like going to the movie theatre, paying for a ticket and then standing in the lobby for the entirety of the feature presentation.
BECAUSE YOU’RE MISSING ALL THE FUN, YOU SEE.
I mean, if I’m going to put on a swimsuit? And wear it in public? Well, I’m dang skippy gonna get some kind of reward for that, and I can’t think of any better reward than SOME RELIEF FROM ALL THE HEAT.
I have given this some thought, as you can tell.
So what about you at the pool? Are you a sideliner? Or a swimmer?
I long to know more.
I prefer to be known as a “dipper”. I like to sit on the sides and read and relax, but then when I get hot take a dip. Then I do the whole cycle over again. I’m not a big swimmer though and while I play with the kids some, there is nothing better than cooling off and then sitting by the pool.
I’d love to be a swimmer, but last September I learned that I cannot get my ears wet AT ALL anymore…like can’t even shower without cotton balls and vaseline in my ears. I know, crazy! I will sit on the steps of the pool to coo off and I’ll get in up to about my waist, but I can’t risk it after that. Horrible ear infections set it…you’d think I was the 2 year old instead of my daughter!
Ok, that was supposed to say COOL off….geez.
I am so jealous that you all have pools nearby!! We don’t have a community pool in our 100% humidity/99 degree South Carolina town and the closest friend w/a pool is 30 min away. My poor daughter gets to swim for a week on vacation each summer and that’s pretty much it, aside from the maybe twice summer trips to the aformentioned friend’s house.
And, though I swam like a fish as a kid, I’m a sideliner if at all possible (if DH or a grandpa is there to be in the pool). It’s just way too much trouble to clean and dry both me and my daughter.
If I’m at my in-laws in TX it doesn’t matter if I just came from the salon. My hair is going to get wet because I will be s-w-i-m-m-i-n-g!
But my regular watering hole is much farther north in New England. We keep a solar cover on our pool just to keep it warm enough because the temps drop into the 60s or 50s over night for most of the summer. When the pool is a mere 74 degrees and I’m crawling in just to put an end to my 3-year old’s whining I will be keeping as much of my body dry as possible.
So: water and atmosphere warm == swimmer
water and/or atmosphere below 80 == spectator
I’ll be honest…it depends on how happy I am with my hair that day. Because if I’ve had to cast out all manner of demons to get it to do what I want, then NO WATER–not even holy water–is touchin’ it.
I don’t think I’d actually refrain from jumping in if, say, a child were drowning, but I have been known to locate all OTHER available adults partaking of the water who would be able to jump in at a moments’ notice, just in case.
And one really can get quite the cool down when only dipping in from the neck down.
It’s still refreshing. And then I don’t run the risk of resembling Rosanna Danna Danna once the hair starts to air dry.
I definitely swim. If I’m not going to swim, I see no point in sitting around a pool. :)
I do, however, keep my head out of the water a majority of the time, simply because I’m wearing my contacts. If I don’t wear them I can’t see three feet in front of me, so it’s really not an option to leave them out.
I’ve been a sideliner all my life (and, frankly, I feel pretty silly about it now). But I haven’t been to a pool since becoming a mom… there’s no way I could resist getting in the pool and playing w/ Woggie now!
I’m a swimmer for sure. I leave my contacts in as well and have never had a problem. I usually have two kids hanging on me though. One is learning to swim in his float thing and is doing a bit better. If I let my daughter go she just flops right over even if she’s wearing her floaty thing.
Sideliner here. I don’t really like to go out in public without makeup on, and if you go under water, well, it’s not pretty. I do get in up to my neck when I get hot, though.
I *hate* to be cold and am rather picky about what water I’m willing to jump into, so it really depends on the water chill whether I’m a swimmer or sideliner. Every once in a while I just jump in without so much as dipping a toe in to test it first, but that’s only when no one is watching the kids with me and it’s absolutely necessary that I get in.
It depends on who I am with…
With just the kids, I am totally a swimmer.
With my kids, and my girlfriends, and their kids, then I am a side of the pool kind of gal. I might get in a swim a bit to cool off, but I might miss good conversation if a tarry too long!
I don’t get in the pool at all. Swimsuit – I won’t be found in one. I refuse to get my hair wet. Plus you get to see all kind of stuff from the sideline – people spit, pee; and blow their noses – all in the same water.
No telling what else I cannot see from above. When my 8 year old is done swimming – it’s time for a great shower.
Swimmah.
When I had non-swimmers, I always got in. Now that they can all swim…. I don’t get in very often. I have hair that when wet – would make an 80’s rock band jealous. It drys really, really BIG! I always swim at the lake and at the beach, but we go to the pool almost EVERY day in the summer and my poor hair can’t take it.
Definitely a sideliner. I will sit at the edge of the pool and splash myself with water, but my kids (as much as they have asked over the years) know that I will never get my hair wet. I think the only time I’ve ever gotten my hair wet it was over 100 degrees and just too hot to sit.
Total sideliner here! I forced myself to get in the pool but not get my hair wet when my girls were younger.
I can’t stand getting my hair and face wet, going home and re-doing hair and makeup.
This will be a problem next week when we are in Florida, I think!
I’m a floater and am teased mercilessly for it. My folks have a pool and I’m content to float on my blow-up chair until the sun goes down. My feet are always in the water and I’m sprayed by an occasional jump by one of the kids – that’s enough for me! My main concern is the chlorine & my highlights…
I’ll do both, it depends on the situation.
I swim when: I have gone expressly for the purpose of swimming. When I say swimming, I MEAN swimming. For exercise. This means I can only go when the pool is not crowded with children. It also means I don’t have plans to be anywhere other than my house for basically the rest of the day.
I swim when: I am responsible for a child. I stay right with them every second. An older child who is a good swimmer, I wouldn’t, but my niece is 6 and she’s the child I’d most likely be with, and I’m not leaving her side, unless another adult is there being responsible for her.
I stay on the sidelines when: A pool is packed with people. Especially children. Someone in here said they don’t understand why people get in to cool off then complain they’re getting splashed. I HATE splashing. Even if I’m SWIMMING and completely soaked, I cannot stand to be splashed. It is one of the ickiest feelings in the world to me.
I stay on the sidelines when: There is somewhere else I need to be that day. My hair is difficult. Even if I tried keeping it dry, just being in the vicinity of that amount of water would cause it to frizz up horribly. If it gets wet, it’s shot for the day. It takes four hours to dry and then it has to be flat-ironed for a good thirty minutes. No, I don’t blow-dry. It stands straight out from my head and frizzes out so bad that even the flat-iron can’t do anything with it. So the only way I’m going to go in is if I have nowhere else to be that night and can go home and shower and let it air-dry overnight like I do anyway…
I’ve been a sideliner since 6th grade… because I haven’t dared to put on a bathing suit since then.
Now that I’ve lost 76 pounds – I’m thinking about breaking down, buying a bathing suit, and joining in on all the fun!!
Well, you certainly got quite a bit of reaction from this post.
I am most definitely a swimmer. And I get my hair wet, too. Take as an example, just a couple weeks ago, my son went to a buddy’s birthday party that was held a local hotel for a pool party. The parents were there to supervise their kids swimming, but I and another mom were the only ones who actually got into the pool. Of the two of us, I was the only one who went under water.
I am most definitely a swimmer! it is so much fun. We go to the lake on our boat quite a bit and the most fun I have is jumping into the water on 100+ day! We have several splash pads in our town and I’ve been known to play with my kids in those, too.
I am a swimmer. WHO GETS HER HAIR WET, glory to God.
But, when there are 9,700 kids in the pool, I have to sit out some to play lifeguard. I sit and count heads. That’s what I do. Count heads. And when I miss one, I look at the bottom of the pool and if I don’t see anyone, I sigh and sigh of relief and start hollerin’, “Sether! Sether Joe! Where in the hee haw are you”?
I am a swimmer – in private pools.
I was a lifeguard for several years in HS and can’t stand the smell of the chemicals on a hot day – there are reasons you need that many chemicals with that many people in a public pool. But I bear it occasionally for my kids.
I remember my roomate asking me to join her at her boyfriends apartment pool. I was so excited, I hadn’t been swimming all summer and I was so missing it. We got to the pool and being a little intimidated by all the skinny girls on the sideline, I jumped right in as soon as I had taken off my shorts. My roomate took up a spot on the sidelines, and never got in the pool.
This was the first time I had experience with a friend being a sideliner. Growing up everybody got in the pool, even the sunbathers would jump in for a good game of Marco Polo. Too weird.
But I still plug my nose because I dislike having water in my nose. I won’t even do those nose sparys my Doctor harps on me to use for my allergies.
I have frizzy curly hair and the water makes it mostly large and frizzy. We spend a week at the lake every year and by the end of the week I have a white girl afro! Oh yes I do, and I do not care one bit, because I have so much fun in the water!!! I also take a hair band and a hat for the drive home!
Such a sideliner here.
1. The swimming pool, it is icky.
2. If my head goes under the water I will instantly suffocate and drown. If the icky doesn’t get me, the panic will.
3. Bring the body wash and scrub your kid on site so the icky doesn’t enter the van.
Nate’s Mom
Oh, most definitely a swimmer. . .and a diver during adult swim. Fun, fun, fun.
I have a weird thing to admit. I hate to have my eyelashes wet. My eyelashes are long and they just drip wetness and cling together, so having my face wet is not something that I’m happy about. I also have a fear of deep water. (No cruise, no way, no how.) So, when I go to the ocean, I’ll go ankle deep. In a swimming pool, I’ll go up to my armpits.
No head dunking, thank you.
I put on the suit, and sometimes get in. I don’t care if my hair gets wet, but I can’t STAND going underwater. Some yet unknown kid dunked me when I was little and wouldn’t let me up. To this day I don’t like my head going under!
Swimmer, I have been sidelined due to surgery and was bummed to miss out of the fun. I taught my kids how to walk underwater on their hands and feet strait up. Life’s too short to be sidelined.
It is totally situational for me. I’ll be right in it with everyone at a waterpark with slides and a wavepool and things but just a regular public pool I am much more likely to sideline, jumping in when the heat gets unbearable & then getting back out. If I am at a friend’s pool with the kids I’ll probably stay out and chat with the other women, it being one of the few occasions we are unlikely to be interrupted by our offspring. When we are home, with our 12′ round, 28″ deep pool I sideline as well because I take up close to a third of it when I sit down on the bottom.
Pool time for the kids is reading time for me. My opportunities to read uninterrupted are few and far between most days and like my mother before me I find a shady spot and sit my butt down for some me time.
Oh, I am a swimmer! I feel the same way you do about getting IN! And my little son- 7 months now- will NOT get in cold water! And we work at a summer camp! So when I have time, I get him all suited up in swim shorts, swim diaper, rash guard swim shirt, and we head down to the pond where I stand in the water, and he lifts his little feet up in the water and cries. Fun times.
In water, but I don’t go under. I wear glasses, do not even own contacts, but have to wear my glasses or I can’t find my children.
I’m a swimmer too. Our girls are small so we usually all go (my husband too) & we all swim together. My youngest is almost two, and she has NO FEAR so someone has to be with her at all times.
Also, I’m like Sophie, I can’t stand to be hot, so I need the pool to keep from melting.
I’m a dive right in girl. One because I LOVE the pool and two because I HATE GETTING IN SLOW, especially if it’s a little chilly. Once I get in, it’s hard to get me out. As a matter of fact we just got back from the pool with the kids. My hair’s a mess, I’m make-up-less, I smell of chlorine, and the kids are exhausted! My kind of night!
I go in the pool. And I can’t go in without going under. Even after I’ve paid an obscene amount of money to have my hair done.
Swimmer, definitely!!
Sideliner here. Pool chlorine on my bleached blonde hair equals green hair…not pretty. The older I get, the less I have the time or the inclination to sit in very hot weather. Beach and ocean water…now THAT’S an altogether different story…love me some beach!
I’m a sideliner. My three kids are old enough now (the youngest is almost 7!) that I can watch them from my chair! I enjoy the sun and only get in when I am burning up! The kids have a great time and so do I! :)
I am a get in the pool and play mommy, but I don’t get my hair wet as often as my little gals would like. It is just too much work to have to wash it every single day. So on days when I’ll be washing hair soon I do go for it and get all the way in. I’m totally with you though, it is way too hot to go and sit by the pool without getting in the water!
Sophie,
You assured me once that we were surely related because of our “southern” similarities. “Dang skippy” makes an absolute certainty! That is one of my favorite expressions! I pretty much use it the same way “smurf(s)(ed)(ied)” was used in the cartoon.
As for the swimming thing, I’m pretty much a sideliner now although I used to be a very avid (and competitive) swimmer. Contacts made it more difficult for a time, but I can’t wear them anymore so that excuse is gone.
Now it’s more that Omar’s Tent Factory hasn’t had a decent sale on swim tents in a long time so I can’t find one to fit.
That and I get a terrible sunburn from even spelling the word pool so I’m off to put on some aloe now.
Beth
Sorry, I am a little late to the pool party.
I LOVE to swim so I just put my hair up in a pony tail and go for it (yesterday as a matter of fact).
My only issue is that I keep forgetting to put on water proof mascara! AHHHH!
I’m a swimmer all the way, hair and all!
I always have loved the pool. It’s one of my favorite things to do in the summer.
Wow, this was fun! I like to swim and hate to sweat. But I currently have a 2-year-old who HATES cold water. She’ll do bathtubs and MAYBE 85-degree kiddy pools. Great.
I am DEFINITELY an in all he way swimmer. Water hides some of the horror of my body in a bathing suit!!
Bitsy
With a toddler and a baby and no other parent around right now, I’m getting in whether I want to or not. I do usually spend the first twenty minutes trying to keep my face dry–how I hate black streaming down my cheeks!–but always end up going under and being glad I did.
After all, I’m really just a kid myself.
I’m a swimmer. I’m a cannonballer. I’m a front flipper. I’m a joker. I’m a smoker. I’m a midnight toker….wait, that’s a song.
What I’m NOT? A side-liner.
i get in the pool. i’ll even float on my back so my hair does get wet, but i never put my face in the water.
Public pools – I’m a sideliner.
Neighbor’s big pool or the small pool in our backyard – I’m a total swimmer, hair under the water and in ultimate play mode. For me the difference is not wanting to be seen by hundreds in my swimsuit. Pathetic but true.
I swam and dove in high school… so generally, I get in. If I happen to have makeup on, though, I don’t get my face wet because last time I checked, a black face isn’t very attractive. (In which case sometimes I just high tail it to the bathroom and wash my mascara off — problem solved.) And not getting my hair wet? Virtually impossible if I’m anywhere near my kids.
I was actually a competitive swimmer but when I’m at the pool with a bunch of friends, we are all sideliners.
Why?
For the guy scoping of course!!!!
And IF we were to actually get in, you NEVER put your head under because… like… your makeup would be t-totally ruined and you have to look hot for those boys! :)
It’s a nice way to see them partially naked before making your choice! :)
It’s true.
“Dang skippy”, I don’t believe I have ever heard that one before!
I think I am a sideline dipper. Since we have a pool in the backyard, it is not so exciting anymore. But I do go in for family fun times and to cool off when it’s so dang skippy hot!
Did I use it in it’s correct form?
When I was little,my mom screamed at me “don’t get my hair wet.” one too many times.
I always jump in and GET MY HAIR WET! My kids will never get yelled at by me (well for that anyway!)
Right now, I am a side-liner, or I will go and get a plastic chair and sit IN the baby pool, or if I get in the water, I don’t go under. yep, I am one of THOSE moms. I am also 9 months pregnant, and barely fitting in my bathing suit. But, I have never been a good swimmer, so that makes me nervous. Which is why I signed my kids up for swimming lessons earlier this year.
So that’s why they stare? No, just kidding! But actually, I’m a little of both. Little man just dunked his head under water without holding his nose this past weekend and so maybe we can all be swimmers! We have traded off being sideliners to accomodate the little guys need for a parental lifeguard! Funny you should ask!
Oh girlie! Why go through all the trouble of suiting up just to sit on the sidelines? And hello! My pasty white skin is blinding. I retreat to the cover of water as soon as possible.
I’m a sideliner. I get in the pool to cool off, that’s it. I don’t get my face wet EVER not even in the shower. I wash my face with a wash cloth, never splash water on it. My son 18 and daughter 5 love the pool and neither have mom’s face wetting phobia.
Let’s put it this way.
1. I love the pool. I want to be at the pool at all times; however
2. I have extremely curly hair and if it is already straight, I will get my hair wet under NO circumstances.
3. But, I love the pool. I want a pool at our home. I want to be in the pool at all times.
4. My kids think I’m the best mom ever because I’ll swing them around in the pool, and the time’s running out on the best mom ever gig (10 & 12 year olds..) so I’ll get in the pool until I’m no longer cool and they ask me to please stay away from the pool, from them, in fact, could I drop them off at the corner and they’ll walk by themselves – (not going t0 happen!).
Any way, sometimes, I do keep my hair dry, but I love that cooling water sensation.
You’re a hoot.
158 comments so far of hot debate! I’m a sideliner. You should read BigMama’s blog from yesterday about her Nanny’s beauty secrets (and why she looks so young at 90!) She was not even a sideliner: she was a stay-out-of-the-sun-at-all-cost-er!
If you can sit around a pool in Destin, Florida, in July, and not get wet – more power to you! I can’t hardly walk out to the mailbox without wanting to stop by the hose, turn on the facet and spray myself down! Cheri
I am a *total* Water baby. I grew up living on the lake and now I’m down here sans lake or pool — I HATE having to pay to swim, but I am in the water ALL. DAY. LONG. with the kiddos.
My husband is a total sideliner — has something to do with the UGA swim coach throwing him in the pool as a young boy. He sunk to the bottom of the pool and sat there until the coach was shoved in the pool by my mother-in-law who told him to “get [my] baby!!!”
Swimmer. We play Sharks, Marco Polo, etc. Swim laps with Mountain Man. There are a few days when I dip and relax – mainly those were days years ago before we became a family.
I swim. I want to be engaged with my boy. I don’t want to miss out on this little window of time.
this is so timely, my family and i were at the pool last night (we have a summer pool membership at a huge hotel here in dallas)and the mary kay convention was in town. i have never in my life seen so many women in the pool, full makeup and perfectly coiffed. and then there was me–looking like a drowned rat bc we are on like our 343rd day of over 100 degree weather with. no. end. in. sight. and i am just OVER looking good at the pool.
I’m usually a sideliner, too. Mainly because our water park has 6 different pools, and I usually have at least 5 children with me to keep up with. I’ve often considered wrapping some neon duct tape around their heads just so I can spot them from a distance! But here in Arkansas, it’s too hot to do much else this time of year besides go to the water park. So yes, I sit on the side, and stick my feet in the water.
Oh how I long to get my head wet at the pool! And even go under the water! But I have a baby. He’s only a year and a half and I have to float him around. Sure I can get my head wet while holding his leg-hole float, but it’s just not the same as the freedom of plunging and swimming away from all the madness.
And while I’m writing you a book, what is up with the super skinny bikini mommas of three or more children? I’m not judging, but that makes me feel googly to see their flat stomachs after popping out all those kids.
There’s nothing that can keep me from a pool. Not my thighs, my belly, or my arm flab. I can’t let that steal my joy during the hot summer!
California weather does not necessitate swimming like the heat does in the south, I’m sure.
I’m a side-liner.
I get in always… but I have 4 kids under 6…. sidelining isn’t an option. I have to say that my mom had a bad experience as a child and sidelined my whole life. We had a pool in our yard and she would sit there and watch us do tricks and such but she never got in. It never bothered me.
I am most definitely a swimmer. When I actually get a chance to go swimming and not hold up a small child, I throw on my suit, braid my hair, and go for it! Who cares what I look like? Besides, I think “just been swimming” is a far nicer look than “sweltering in the sunshine and heat.” At least I’m happier that way. Even if my kids are in the pool, I’m in the pool, too, holding up one or more of them and helping them swim.
I am a swimmer.
Although I must say that since having kids I rarely get my head wet anymore if they are in the pool with me. The need to keep my eyes on them wins over complete submersion.
Soon when they are both confident swimmers I will be back to diving in and going deep.
Sideliner if at all possible! It’s freakin’ COLD here in San Diego. The ocean and our pools. Our daily highs are 80 in the summer, so the water just doesn’t have a chance. Somehow kids can stand it. Many of us moms can’t. I wear my bathing suit on the off chance it’s hot enough AND to be ready to rescue a child, but I almost always have some kind of shorts or top over it.
I am a swimmer! I don’t want to miss out on the fun, plus I get so hot and I don’t really sweat so I would implode if I sat on the sidelines.
I might have done that in high school or college when I was kinda cute in a swimsuit. At this point in life, if I am wearing a swimsuit, I do not care about my hair.
The urge to impress is obviously gone.
Wow, this stirred things up! I’m a sitter. Maybe if I lived in the type of climate you do where it’s possible to be drenched in sweat standing still, I would be in the pool, all the way, every time.
But, here in So Cal? I can go the pool almost all year long so it’s no big deal.
me? I’m a sideliner.
But, I do get in the pool, just to cool off.
And I DO get my hair wet when I get in to cool off.
I am naturally a lovely pasty shade of pale white.
I need the sun.
I love the sun.
I love my tan.
I love to read, while sweating in the sun, OUTSIDE OF THE POOL.
But, like I said, I do dip in once or twice a visit. Just for a second.
I have a book to read, and tan to be got.
I’m embarrassed to say that I have become a sideliner. And I just wear regular clothing and don’t bother to put on a swimsuit. We all know that people really don’t care to see a woman in her third trimester in a bathing suit. Seriously.
A swimmer! Definitely a swimmer!
I may not be in the pool the WHOLE time we’re there, but I can’t imagine going to all that trouble for nothin’. So, I kind of divide my time between getting wet and chatting with the neighbors.
I long to lounge, but the children will only have it one way.
ALL THE WAY IN. But, it is fun, so that’s a’ight.