Mashable, a tech site, says you should buy a kiddie pool. Not for your kids, for yourself. As they point out, if you have a roof or backyard, fifteen bucks, and a garden hose or a big bucket, then baby, you’ve got a pool going.
(They claim you can also put a kiddie pool on your fire escape. I cannot endorse that particular variation.)
Your kiddie pool will get filthy fast, and you’ll look like a hipster from 2009, but you’ll use much less water or space than you would with an “adult” pool. You can fill it in five minutes and empty it in one. You never have to learn how chlorine tablets work.
I’d like to point out one more big advantage: it’s not a bath. A bath, like a large coffee or a tweet, is always regrettable. This is because you expect a bath to feel like an expensive spa, when it is actually just a tepid soak in your own filth with your neck craned.
A bath is a disappointment, but a kiddie pool is not, because:
- It is outdoors, where expectations are lowered. (Ask anyone who has brunched at a footpath table.)
- It is for cooling, not for warming. Water is better at cooling than warming. This is known.
- You aren’t trying to clean yourself.
- You get to (probably have to) keep some clothes on. Wearing clothes in water is actually very cool.
You can lie in it, or you can just soak your feet in it. You can drink beer in it. You can lie down in it and then sit in the sun to dry out. A kiddie pool is nature’s air conditioning.
For a real trip, you could fill your kiddie pool with a substance other than water, like slime or spaghetti, which probably is a disappointment but that one scene in Patch Adams made it look like a blast. Only do it at the end of the season, when you never plan to put water in the pool again. Take pics.
So if you are privileged enough to own or rent a home with outdoor space, live life to the fullest by buying and using a kiddie pool. Maybe even let a kid in.
Listen to me: Buy a kiddie pool for your adult self this summer [Mashable]
Comments
4 responses to “Adults: Buy Yourself A Kiddie Pool”
Just don’t leave it filled and unattended if there is even a remote chance of a baby or a toddler falling in and drowning. Empty after each use – water the lawn etc.
I’ve thought about buying a small hard plastic pool for my dogs over summer. Let them splash around in it to cool down. The only thing preventing me is I’m not sure they’d enjoy it, they’re stupidly fussy over some things.
My neighbour did this until said large dog realised it was more fun to drag around the yard empty
This article read my mind after last summer I’ve been thinking about buying one