Mean mommy forces kids to go to the pool
I was a mean mommy over the weekend. I forced my kids to go to the swimming pool.
Every year, we pay more than $500 for a family membership to a local private pool. And every year, I try to keep myself from calculating the per-visit cost. Between work, thunderstorms, trips, and the like, it seems that we end up actually swimming there much less than we envision when we sign up in the spring.
This year, though, takes the cake. We went to swim early in the season, and the water was so cold that the kids were spooked. One of them doesn't even want to swim indoors now.
So when last Saturday reached good old Baltimore levels of heat and humidity, I brought down the kids' suits and told them to get ready for the pool. And they wailed.
Here's the thing: I knew they'd have a good time. But I had to actually tell them that if they didn't go to the pool that day, they'd have to start paying back part of their allowances to offset the money I'd wasted on our membership.
Yes, meanest mommy ever. But it worked. And they had fun.
Now, if it could just get really hot again....
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
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Comments
I'd do the same thing. We don't "belong" to a pool (the whole concept of "belonging" to a pool was new for me and I suspect it's a little bit of a Baltimore thing) and the main reason we don't is that's it's fabulously expensive: a $500 initiation fee plus $500 for the whole summer? For a family of three? It made me a little resentful of my neighborhood.
Instead, we've ventured down to the public pools a couple of times this summer ($1.50 per adult per visit) and had a good time. My complaints about the odd schedules, lack of amenities, and rambunctious kids are generally outweighed by the savings.
Posted by: Jon | July 28, 2009 1:46 PM
Tell them if they don't go swimming, they have to read Lord of the Flies and if they refuse to do either, you'll have them arrested.
Posted by: Bucky | July 28, 2009 3:20 PM
Come on, Bucky, I know you have better parenting skills than that!
I was a cat in my last life and don't like to get wet, so my husband has an individual membership at a local pool. I figure it costs about $30 a swim, on average.
Posted by: Dahlink | July 29, 2009 6:53 AM
Dahlink - You're right. I was just joking. I never made my kid read Lord of the Flies. ;-)
Posted by: Bucky | July 29, 2009 2:33 PM
Your kids get an allowance and get to go to the pool? They should feel fortunate. I grew up working on the farm, with now allowance/pay, and I never got to go and hang out at the pool.
Posted by: Jason | July 29, 2009 2:41 PM
Farm life is a b***h. No, really. I'm not mocking.
Posted by: Bucky | July 29, 2009 4:22 PM
I had to do the same thing yesterday. We have actually been living at the pool so I let my son stay with a friend when we went on Monday. Yesterday, I made him go. He had a total fit but I refused to cave. When we got there, he had a blast. I tried to make him realize this on the way home. "Did you have fun?" I asked. "Of course," he said. Then when I tried to make my point, he looked at me like I was nuts.
So problem was solved. Until tomorrow when I make him go to the pool again.
Posted by: Betsy | July 29, 2009 4:47 PM
This is just an extension of the technique that my children perfected in preschool: cry pitiously when I leave them at preschool, then cry even harder why I make them leave preschool at the end of the day. Now they don't want to get in the pool, and then they whinge when the pool closes and it's time to go home. I think I got defective children, but my mother mutters darkly about "only what I deserve..."
Posted by: Baltofoodie | July 30, 2009 11:49 AM
Baltofoodie, do you remember what techniques your mother used on you?
Posted by: Dahlink | July 31, 2009 6:55 AM
It was like the Far Side carton: my mother would say, "Baltofoodie, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." Her voice was just like the voice of the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoon. But my kids listen to me, right? ;-)
Posted by: Baltofoodie | July 31, 2009 9:19 AM