Paddling pools are a rite of passage and a summer staple but, as a parent, I've realised that they are not the idyllic joy I remember from childhood.
For my kids of course, sitting in deck chairs, eating ice pops, already wearing their swimwear - and goggles, despite it being less than a foot high, bless their wild optimism - and waiting impatiently for the hose to do its work, the paddling pool is a highlight of summer even before the high temperatures we've been seeing this week. But as adult it can be a bit of a thankless and fafftastic task, even assuming when you get the paddling pool out of the shed that it's lasted the long winter.
But a tip on TikTok and a simple £6 fitted sheet has been a revelation this weekend, making pool time simpler, less messy and also, in this time of high bills and concerns about water shortages, both cheaper and more environmentally friendly. The video, by user KirstyKetley is one of hundreds of paddling pools hacks on the popular site, and suggests putting a fitted sheet over your paddling pool overnight to avoid bugs and debris getting into it overnight.
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We first put our paddling pool up on Saturday morning, its first outing of 2022. Our Intex inflatable pool was bought from Amazon last year for £40 and is sturdy and has four inflatable seats and even cup holders in it meaning it's as popular with the grown ups as the children. But the other side of that is normally it takes a while to inflate - and even longer to fill.
Using our garden tap it took over an hour to get to a sensible level with the hose on Saturday. While the hot weather means we're barely cooking and the heating has long since been turned off, I did watch the water level rise and wonder how much it was going to cost on our metered water bill.
But after a happy day of splashing in and out of the pool (don't worry we did head inside when it got too hot) I took the TikTok advice and used a kingsize sheet like this £5.60 one from Dunelm to cover the paddling pool for the night.
I wasn't convinced it would make that much difference, but actually when took the sheet off for Sunday the pool was, barring the usual cut grass attracted to little feet hopping in and out, surprisingly clean of mess. This meant when I'd previously have considered refilling it I was happy to use it for a second day. We even popped the sheet on it again last night, so the children can have a quick dip after school.
This simple yet genius tip meant paddling pool time wasn't as much as a faff as usual, when normally I'd replace the water daily effectively spending more time filling, emptying and inflating and uninflating it than we actually do enjoying it. What's more, using one pool of water rather than two or three is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
The humble fitted sheet is also the subject of another tip being shared online to help keep people shaded out in the garden, and we were able to try that too as the sun moved across the back of the garden making part of the pool no longer in the shade.
Pegging a light sheet to a rotary washing line can give you some much-needed additional shade. We used it alongside our Dunelm gazebo to keep the full pool area shaded and it was so well shaded that even at 28 degree heat my son was a little bit shivery when he went for a late afternoon dip. It also had the added bonus of drying the sheet that had been over the pool overnight.
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