Search icon

Parenting

22nd Oct 2017

A guide: How to survive a visit to your local pool with two crazed children

It CAN be done.

Sharyn Hayden

There are a few things that I hate doing alone with a four-year-old boy and one-year-old girl in tow.

Grocery shopping, for example, and I know I’m not alone in saying that. If you have yet to join the slightly bedraggled but relieved-to-be-on-their-own parent’s club in Tesco at 9pm then believe me, it is in your future.

Getting petrol for the car is another. I don’t know why, but the efforts of dragging the pair of them out of the car and across a dirty garage forecourt, most likely at the side of a busy road, make me choose to drive there by myself at midnight instead.

Bringing the kids swimming has somehow fallen into this category too. Getting them there, everyone into togs, in for the swim and back out again successfully has somewhat been avoided.

But now that I am intent on Becoming A Braver Parent, I took the plunge (har, har) and single-handedly brought the two monkeys for a swim.

200-9

Here’s how to survive bringing the kids swimming when you’re flying solo:

1. Tog out at home

As our pool is a half-hour drive away, there was no point in getting the baby into togs as the swim nappy wouldn’t have lasted the car journey. But I got myself and Jacob into togs in advance so, two down.

2. Dress everyone down

Speed is key when it comes to survival in the dressing rooms. Complicated button-down shirts or tights are an absolute nightmare to deal with so get everyone into tracksuits and slip-on shoes. This is more for YOU than the kids because once they’re dressed after the swim, you get exactly 4.8 seconds to sort yourself out.

3. One bag, two lockers

Bring the right change so that you can get two lockers. Yes, you arrived with only one bag (PS make sure it’s a backpack of some sort so that your hands are free) but once you take off everyone’s coats and shoes, you literally won’t believe how much stuff you have between the lot of you.

200-11

4. Pee first, always

There’s something about all that water that sends everyone into a pee frenzy. Pee before you leave the house, pee before you start getting everyone undressed, pee before you get into the pool and pee before you empty the lockers again. Otherwise, you will end up like me, with a nude toddler, a half-dressed baby and a mother with her swimming hat askew, running through the dressing room at high speed, hoping no one robs the keys to the car.

5. Family room-only

Most family-friendly pools with have family-sized changing rooms complete with changing table, and a seat you can securely strap a toddler into when you need them contained and safe for a minute. Most importantly, they have loads of room for you, the kids and all their stuff, so if there isn’t one available when you arrive, I’d wait the extra few minutes until one is free. They are definitely worth it.

6. Start the countdown early

My kids don’t really have any concept of time, so I gave them five minutes in the pool and then gave it the ‘Ten Minute Countdown!’. I mean, we obviously ended up being there for longer than fifteen minutes in total but I was so trying to avoid any meltdowns when it came to getting out time that I wanted to give Jacob loads of advance warning. And it worked! (this time, eh?)

200-12

7. Grub it up

When you’re getting one kid dressed after a swim, feed the other. When you’re getting dressed, feed everyone. Bring nice little complicated food items like raisins, crips, rice cakes, baby bottles, drinks – anything that takes longer than three minutes to eat so that you can get dressed and packed up in relative peace.

8. Wrap up warm

It’s always roasting inside the pool area and dressing room and always freeeeeezing outside. You can of course dry everyone’s hair inside but get ready to shove hats on before you walk out the door and back to the car.

9. Be like Forty Coats

Wear a coat with large pockets. The level of multitasking that is required at a swimming pool is second-to-none. You will have all the swimming essentials in a bag on your back and a child in each hand (or one on your hip!). So you’ll need pockets for tissues, bottles, wallet, phone, keys and the ‘mammy will you hold this?’ items too.

10. Leave your inhibitions behind

The logistics of bringing the kids swimming was tricky at times, but I really had a blast. We went for it with the splashing, the waves, the two kids clung to my neck as we spun around the ‘river’, we even got into the kiddie-friendly jacuzzi. Did anyone see my arse cheek as I picked Eva up for the gazillionth time because she wouldn’t hold my hand? Probably, but I didn’t really give a damn because we were having so much fun.