Granted, there are only a handful of days each summer when it's warm enough to head to the outdoor pool, so one must consider the options...
Go to the pool with every other German in sight to soak up an actual ray of sunshine?
Or ...
Stay at home and pine for the fun of the pool.
Stay at home and pine for the fun of the pool.
Wir gehen zum Freibad, natuerlich!
So what do I love about outdoor pools in Germany?
Where to start...
Lockers and changing rooms. I love the locker thing. Take a 1 Euro coin and lock up valuables. Clip the armband around a wrist or safety pin the key to a swimsuit. Done.
Pools for kids of all ages and abilities. They have great pools for really little ones. Zero entry pools that are super shallow for splashing. Fountains, slides, wave pools, lazy rivers, and playgrounds abound. Actual lap swimming? They have that, too.
We did find, though, that we had to adjust to a few local differences.
Lifeguards? Well, there aren't very many. For awhile, I didn't see any, but now I can spot a Bademeister on a busy day. I can't say it's actually relaxing yet to go to a pool with three kids, but I'm getting there. I have pulled up a few kids who were face down in the water. Scary. It happens in an instant.
Flotation devices. I have discovered water wings. They aren't allowed in any of the pools I went to in the US, but they're very popular here in Germany. Ren and Kate didn't like them very much and they used an inflatable tube type thing in the pool, but I tried a pair of water wings on Ada and the girl took off kicking herself around the pool. I still stayed right with her, of course, but she LOVED it. Wings are here to stay.
Swimming lessons. We have not yet managed official swimming lessons here, as I'm trying very hard to avoid a really hectic schedule and the kids have opted for other activities. We had a few lessons with Ren and Kate in the US and they made some progress. I can't say they were swimming strokes really well, but were comfortable in the water, which is paramount to me. One day last fall I sent them with a teacher after school for a swimming afternoon and Ren made it across 50 meters so he earned his "Seepferdchen" badge. Who knew? I talked with the teacher later (who has taught swimming lessons for years) and she said that they really don't care how a child makes it from one end of the pool to another in the beginning, just that they can get from A to B, then they learn the strokes. They learn breaststroke first and not the crawl. The swimmer in me just wants them to know how to swim as a life skill and for exercise, but we have yet to find a good instructor and a great time to tackle the next step.
Bathing attire. This is my favorite.
For really young children about 3 and under, bathing attire is optional. Most kids wear some type of suit, but it's perfectly normal here to see a 2 year-old naked and splashing at the pool. I can't say this bothers me at all. I have never seen a little one have an accident, and often there are bathrooms nearby in the indoor pools. I haven't seen a requirement for a swim diaper either, but we always opted for it, just to be on the safe side. When the younger kids get out of the pool to have a snack (always ok right on the deck of an indoor pool), they take off their suit and put on a robe. No hanging around in a wet suit. Curious.
Many little girls wear only a bathing suit bottom. I understand that taking a one piece suit off to go the bathroom is a little time consuming, but it throws me off a little after a certain age. We greeted a friend of a friend who hopped on by our set of blankets the other day at the outdoor pool to say hello. Happy as could be. She had a little tiny bikini bottom on.
The girl was 10 years old. She was young and slender and had no upper development going on, but it did catch me off guard to be a topless 10 year-old. We can talk about the cultural differences here for a little while longer, but there's a 9 year old boy in our home who is catching on fast. Oi.
Meanwhile, we talk modesty and our girls and their mom wear tankinis. They fight me on rash guards, and so I'm learning to let go.
