# Kids swimming in pools **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904 "2009-07-13T21:29:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/61 "2009-07-15T01:52:51Z")
This is why I will never go camping. The mere thought of…uh, relieving myself anywhere but a toilet gives me hives. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/62 "2009-07-15T02:06:58Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > This is why I will never go camping. The mere thought of…uh, relieving myself anywhere but a toilet gives me hives. I have never heard of anyone getting hives from it but you damn sure can get poison ivy especially if you need to go at night without a flashlight and forget the toilet paper. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/63 "2009-07-15T19:57:49Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > I find peeing in the woods one of the great natural pleasures. If I’m somewhere on a summer day where there’s a toilet and some trees (when I’m alone) equidistant, I’m making for the trees every time. That goes quadruple if it’s a port-a-potty. Be sure to take along a copy of [“How To Shit In the Woods”](http://www.amazon.com/How-Shit-Woods-Environmentally-Approach/dp/0898156270/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247687808&sr=8-1). Really. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/64 "2009-07-16T17:26:29Z")
I have no problem peeing in the woods but I’ve always been jealous of how much quicker, easier, and more efficient the process is for men. The world is their toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/65 "2009-07-16T17:54:01Z")
> [@Jorge\_Burrito](#): > > If the whole urine/feces thing isn’t enough, I have another reason to keep kids out of the pool. The might get pregnant: > [http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm\_3394806.html](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3394806.html) Oh yeah, that’s \*\*completely \*\*plausible. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > This is why I will never go camping. The mere thought of…uh, relieving myself anywhere but a toilet gives me hives. Campgrounds have toilets. Hell, these days, most of them even have flush toilets instead of pit toilets. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/66 "2009-07-16T17:55:33Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Oh yeah, that’s \*\*completely \*\*plausible. > > Campgrounds have toilets. Hell, these days, most of them even have flush toilets instead of pit toilets. Believe me, anything short of a working shower, sink, and normal toilet is not enough. Plus I hate nature. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/67 "2009-07-16T19:05:12Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Believe me, anything short of a working shower, sink, and normal toilet is not enough. Plus I hate nature. The ones that have flush toilets also have showers and sinks. Won’t help with the hating nature part, though. ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/68 "2009-07-16T22:28:43Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > No way would I allow the possibility (actuality, I’m certain) of a little pee in the water stop me from enjoying our complex pool. > I swim daily, weather permitting, during the summer, and plenty of kids swim there as well (though not very many still in diapers..THAT does sort of ick me out, since those disposables don’t do squat, no pun intended, to prevent leaks, esp. when worn so long that they are all sagging and gapping…a public pool I used to go to was problematic in this respect. When my kids were that age, I used the reusable ones, and they actually hold their shape and anything else that might happen, tho’ it never did) > > One, I am not gulping down water…at most I get a tiny bit in my mouth and spit it back out (how about the ick factor of all the saliva and snot in the water? uh oh, you may never swim again!:eek:) I was able to keep my head above water the entire time I was swimming. However, after swimming 5 laps, I was breathing hard enough that I had to open my mouth to breathe, and water was starting to get in. > [@InterestedObserver](#): > > Two, the volume of clean water, constantly being replenished, dilutes anything to a negligible concentration…you probably EAT more urine/feces/other disgusting stuff every day than what you’d ingest in a pool. > > Three, the chlorine kills damn near everything (except for the crytosporidian, but that is found in a lot of tap water and is mostly harmless unless you have an immune condition or are otherwise very weak/vulnerable) Honestly, “just” the urine itself wasn’t so much what bothered me as the other disgusting stuff you’re talking about. Cryptosporidium being the main thing. I talked about urine in my OP because it felt like a good starting point, and we could move on from there … and people certainly did! > [@InterestedObserver](#): > > Four, as has been resolved, it’s not just the kids. And it’s not just the urine. > [@InterestedObserver](#): > > I guess you’ll just have get over it, give up swimming forever, or invest in a private pool. Sorry you haven’t been swimming in years, though. ☹ I am probably going to visit a few local gyms (Bally’s, LA Fitness, 24-hour Fitness) and see how their pools look. If I can find a clean one, I’ll sign up there and try to swim regularly. It’s good exercise. I found out recently that I have a syndrome which makes running and other exercise especially hard on my body, so I need to find forms of exercise like swimming. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904/69 "2009-07-17T01:03:07Z")
> [@SeanArenas](#): > > I am probably going to visit a few local gyms (Bally’s, LA Fitness, 24-hour Fitness) and see how their pools look. If I can find a clean one, I’ll sign up there and try to swim regularly. It’s good exercise. I found out recently that I have a syndrome which makes running and other exercise especially hard on my body, so I need to find forms of exercise like swimming. If you go there, and the pool water is cloudy, warm (~ body temperature), greenish, purple, or the chlorine scent stings your eyes – avoid that pool. They’re not doing a good job with their pool chemicals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-swimming-in-pools/502904.md?page=3)