Parenting: a little swimming goes a long way

There is nothing in the world like a dip in a pool when the mercury starts zooming upwards of 30 degrees Celsius in July, and there’s nothing that turns a cranky toddler around — well, mine, anyway — than a trip to the pool.

Last week’s ridiculous temperatures coupled with a tired, red-faced daughter prompted nightly post-dinner excursions to our community pool, where we played, swam and splashed happily before going home and sleeping the sleep of people who have been swimming, which usually equals sleeping like a rock.

It brings back memories of when I was a kid growing up in Pointe Claire. I lived for the pool. My sisters and I joined swim team simply because those kids got to use the pool at lunch hour and somehow it didn’t seem right that we couldn’t.

My daughter is the same way. She can’t fathom why a diving competition has to scuttle her swimming plans on a Sunday morning and can’t understand for the life of her why the arrival of thunder and lightning means she can’t go to the pool.

Last week, she woke up from a nap, sat up straight in bed and announced “I go pool!”

It’s priceless. She bounds down the pool steps, usually refusing any and all flotation devices, and starts hopping around in the shallow end of the big pool.

“Daddy, I swimming! I swimming, Daddy!”

Her utter joy brings a smile to my face without fail.

The best part about it?

I like swimming, too. So the two of us trundle off to the pool, sometimes with Mommy, sometimes without, but it doesn’t matter, because as long as she’s splashing around in the cool blue, she’s as happy as a clam.

The only real drawback is the intense mid-day sunshine, which isn’t usually an issue, because we tend to hit the pool later on in the day or after supper, so that ideally, my daughter is nice and tired, and theoretically, more susceptible to the temptations of going to sleep.

Alas, like a lot of things in the parenting realm, what works in theory fails to apply in real life. Sort of like communism. (Thanks, The Simpsons).

The swimming, rather than tire out my daughter as it does with other kids, serves only to energize her, so come 9 p.m., her exhausted parents are cajoling her into bed while she marches around banging cymbals together like the Energizer Bunny or those toy monkeys that freak everybody out.

Scary stuff.

The redeeming quality the pool has — at least mine does, anyway. Can’t speak for other folks at other pools — is the sheer amount of support for parents. The Lakeside Pool lifeguards are eager to chat, help in any way possible or even take your child off your hands for a while and play with her (or him). It’s also a meeting place for beleaguered parents whose only avenue for sanity is a cool child — and misery loves company.

Community pools are probably going to be the last refuge from the blue-green algae scourge currently closing lakes to swimmers across the province. Good thing, too. The community pool can be a community centre as well.