Greening the Kiddie Pool
Aug 6, 2007 Eco Friendly Home, Eco Friendly Parenting, Going Green
I have to admit that I love my kiddie pool. It’s a great way to allow the kids to cool off in the hot weather we get here without turning on the air conditioner.
We have a fairly large kiddie pool. It’s one of the ones that inflates through three rings, and the water gets a foot and a half to two feet deep, and about six feet in diameter. Part of our backyard is wood chips that the landlords put in. I destest these, as they’re the wrong sort for walking on, and give splinters like mad, but it means we can put up the pool on an otherwise useless section of yard.
It’s a lot of fun for the entire family and it has really helped my kids to comfortably advance their swimming skills. My son, at 2-1/2 has gone from clinging when we take him in a big pool, to propelling himself around just a bit.
Some of that’s scary, since he thinks he can do more than he can. But we’re aiming for twice a week at a big pool so that he learns quickly.
It’s helped my daughter improve too. She’s 5 and it’s just deep enough that she can practice her swimming. In a big pool she seems to now be inventing her own sort of breaststroke. Given that we weren’t able to sign her up for swimming lessons this year, I’m pretty impressed.
But I do always feel a little bit bad about kiddie pools. They aren’t the most environmentally sensitive thing to have. But I do what I can.
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Take Little Steps Toward Being Green
Aug 5, 2007 Environmentally Friendly, Going Green
Going green can sound intimidating. There are so many things you should do to be green that even getting started is difficult.
But that’s why taking little steps makes so much more sense. You don’t need to be thoroughly environmentally sensitive in a day. If you take it a step at a time you can get to where you want to be with less of a struggle.
Pick something simple to start with, perhaps as simple as turning on fewer lights in the house or replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
Another easy place to start can be recycling. This is easier in some areas than in others. Depending on where you live you may be able to recycle paper, metals and most plastics, or you may be more limited. Many areas only take plastics numbered 1 or 2, for example. You may be able to throw it all into a single bin or you may have to separate your recyclables.
The thing to remember is that recycling does not take you significantly longer than just throwing things into the trash. Just a moment’s thought as to whether or not the item needs a very fast rinse and where should you put it?
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