Question about kiddie swimming pools....

MommyToAshley wrote: Sorry I haven't been around much, work has been VERY busy and I have been trying to spend extra time with Ashley.

I have a question, and I hope you don't think it is too silly.

I bought Ashley a new blow-up swimming pool this year, she wanted one with a slide and it was on sale, so I gave in.

Anyways, yesterday there were some kids from the neighborhood in the pool with Ashley and they were all having a blast in the pool. Can you imagine 5 kids under 5 years old in a kiddie pool. LOL! The other Moms were talking about getting their kid's pools out and they mentioned that they only dump the water about once a week. Last year, I dumped and refilled Ashley's pool every time she used it. I was wondering what you do? Ashley hates when I refill it because it takes a little while to get warm, but I keep thinking of all the kiddie germs in the pool. How often do you dump the pool?

Since you have read this far, I have to add a funny Ashley story:

Yesterday, one of the girls was going down the slide and we had the sprayer turned off so the slide wasn't that wet. When she slid down the slide, it made a noise, and Ashley looks at her and says, "You are supposed to say Excuse me when you toot!" Of course all of the adults started laughing, and the poor little girl was embarrassed. I told Ashley that she didn't toot that it was the slide that made the noise, but Ashley insisted that she tooted!

mckayleesmom replied: My mom had a kiddie pool at her house with a slide and we changed it depending on how dirty it looked...lol. It was fine when it was just Mckaylee...changed every couple days...but when my nephews came over we had to change it every day.

Kaitlin'smom replied: Well for Kait's little pool and its little one of those plactic ones, We usually dunp it, after she uses it cause we dont let it set on the grass for to long. That remonds me I have a blow up pool some place with different thing, I bought if for my mephews to play on, but since we got the big one (its going up now WOO HOO) I dunno where it is.......

oh and ashley is sooo funny

coasterqueen replied: LOL, Ashley is too cute!

As far as the kiddie pool..the one we had last year we dumped out once a week but she was only in it on the weekends so basically it was after the weekend use. I'd dump in Sunday night, fill it, cover it and it would be warm again for her to use come the next Saturday. So really I'm not help. The pool we have this year is chlorinated so we don't ahve to worry about it.

Jamielou replied: I change delaney's when it looks dirty but she dont really like to stay in the pool she is in and out all the time so about every other time she uses it.

aspenblue1 replied: We dump Isabella's pool after every use but we don't leave it out in the grass.

jdkjd replied: We dump ours after every use to prevent the mosquitos from breeding in it...

TANNER'S MOM replied: Well when mine were little I did this, and my grandma told me too.

Everyday we put just a little bit of bleach in it. Not enough to die anything but just enuff to kill germs and now I would add some anti baterial stuff and change once a week. The bleach worked great..I mean just a few capfuls, kinda like the chlorine they use in big pools and the smell turns the mosquitos off.

Just a suggestion.... Another thing is this.. I know it sounds silly. But I use to get in chiggers and weeds and get all kinds of bites as a kid. Granny would do this and it would stop the itching and heal the sores. We were country kids.

If she has real sensitive skin it pron wouldnt be good.

Mel

booey2 replied: When I was home with the boys, (after Thomas was born), I acutally bought cholrine to put in the pool cuz we left it up for quite a while. Now we only use it on the weekends when we don't go somewhere so thats not very often.

~KARA~ replied: Maddi got a pool for her bday this paast weekend and this is what Im planing on doing.

Fill and dump once a week. Im going to buy a tarp to cover it so I dint have to worry about grass and other stuff getting in. I also have a bucket that I fill up with water for the girls to step in to before going down the slide or getting back in the pool. If by some chance we do have someone else over that uses the pool I will probably dump it out and refill. It has a plug in the bottom so its not hard to empty.

ediep replied: Jasons kiddie pool is really small, so it doesn't take long to fill at all. I dumped it after every use and refilled it when he wanted to use it. If it was too cold for him, I would bring a pail inside and fill a bucket from of hot water from the tap and pour that it too.

we are getting a big pool next week!!!! No ore kiddie pool for us!!!

Mommy2BAK replied: Blakely has a blow up pool, but it is really small so we dump it and refill it everytime. But I wouldn't think that you have to do that!

Ashley is so funny!

JAYMESMOM replied: We have a really small one this year for Jayme and have only used it once. I dumped it after the use because a storm was coming.

Growing up we always cleaned the grass out with a net made from old stockings and a metal hanger.

I would also do as Mel suggested and put a little bleach in there to clean it out. Do it at night and it will be okay by the next day.

A top over the top also keeps the bugs out.

DansMom replied: My tendency would be to dump it after use every time, not so much because of germs but other reasons. Standing water seems to attract mosquitos and other bugs. If you can cover it between times, I suppose that's less of an issue. I can understand not liking it so cold though! Maybe you could go in the house and put in a few spagghetti pots of warm water in while you fill it with the hose...

Ashley is very observant as well as polite

gr33n3y3z replied:
yep thats what I did also Mel
Do it at night this way the sun wont bleach the colors out of the pool

That is such a Ashley story so cute

mom21kid2dogs replied: We dump ours after every use but it has nothing to do with germs, merely safety. Drowning is the #2 cause of death in kids under 5 and I wasn't interested in my daughter becoming a statisic. I could see her getting out the back door and into the pool by herself~so not happening. We have a cover but it would never support her weight. Ours is a 6ft square pool and takes over a hour to fill but it's worth my peace of mind!

We dump several pans of boing water in while it fills to take the edge off the cold.

iluvmysweetiepies replied: We have a big blow-up one. We dump it every time we use it. It doesn't have a cover, and, like others have said, we don't want to breed mosquitoes. By the end of the day it's usually pretty gross with all the grass and bugs anyway and I really don't like the spot it makes in our lawn so I would rather just empty it. If I know the kids want to go in later ithat day, I'll fill it up in the morning and by the afternoon it's pretty warm.