Anyone had any luck using a backyard Pool to teach a kid to swim?
I admit the geographical location of Canada (Saskatchewan to be specific) makes a backyard pool difficult. I acquired an above ground 13X7, 4 feet deep soft walled pool. I need to heat it, but can’t find a reasonable heat source within the budget. So, right now it seems to cold to swim. What temp do you keep your pool?
I worry about chemicals and my kids swimming in chlorine. How do you keep your pool clean/safe? I wanted to use a UV cleaner with food grade hydrogen peroxide. However, I can’t find a UV cleaner that is within the water hardness of the area. And the Hydrogen Peroxide on its own, is not keeping the algae at bay.
It seems like a huge amount of effort. How important is it really that kids swim? Why does Doman recommend swimming so much?
In Australia about half the population learns to swim in a backyard pool of some sort. Often self taught just from loads of time in the he water and plenty of self practice. Swimming is very important here. Drowning is one of our main childhood death causes.
My parents use the peroxide method in their pool and it works. I believe if you worm the water it would make it even harder to keep the algae at bay. I always ended up using chlorine each time we have had a backyard pool, the effort wasn’t worth the reward for us. I want to swim in it not clean it! lol
Australia! I could wish for your warm weather, us Canadians are more likely to die from freezing to death lol
Your parents use Hydrogen Peroxide…could I have a few more details please. How much do they use? How often? How soft is the water?
Yes, warming the water increased the algae. Not warming the water means we are swimming in 60 degrees water, which maybe my kids will stand in, but I won’t go anywhere near it. I’m the wimp, but if I’m going to be cold, I would at least prefer to be wearing a parka and a toque, not a bikini
Thanks for the reply though, I’m just looking for a little motivation to keep going on the backyard pool. So far, it is has been an insane amount of work, for very little actually swimming time. Need someone else to remind me why I’m working so hard on this pool, when I think I could just take it down, wait for the snow to fly, and flood a backyard rink and skate instead. A backyard rink is by far and away easier than a backyard pool.
Where are you located? We are in Saskatoon and the outdoor pools offer $1/person swims ($2/family) from 6 - 8 pm on M - Th nights. I’m with you about swimming in the cold water although we have been considering one of those above ground pools too.
