My mantra

My mantra, for the last seven years, has been if it's not good for a pregnant woman, it's probably not so great for my kids, or for me either.  I remember this everytime I eat sushi, and I don't let my children eat the raw fish.  Veggie rolls are fine, though, and my daughter loves them.  Similar rules for nuts, uncooked meats, and soft cheeses.  I also fail to grasp the whole unpasturized milk thing happening in Ontario right now. If I remember my grade 10 science, milk and other foods are pasturized for a reason.

So with my mantra in mind, off we went to a hotel for a family vacation over March Break.  All my kids need on vacation is a pool.  Not a schmancy waterslide-y fun village, just a basic, preferrably shallow, hotel pool, and the quieter the better.  I've tried organizing events, doing tours, dragging my offspring from pillar to post.  I finally realized this year that the kids are just too young.  They don't remember visiting Mackenzie the Fireboat from Mighty Machines, or touring the Toronto Police Services Horse Stables and meeting all the police horses.  They don't even remember getting lost at Ikea (my heart still stops when I remember).  All these great memories, designed to inspire warm, fuzzy thoughts of a perfect childhood are manufactured by me, and require little participation from my children.  They simply get to be viewers.  After many years, I've learned that this isn't enough for them.  My kids require activity, and on vacation they prefer that activity to be unstructured and aquatic.  Now, the added bonus for me is that basic pools cost buckets less than a double room at a fun village. 

But I was really alarmed at a growing trend I've noticed among families - parents and caregivers taking young children into hot tubs.  I always check out the warning notices, and without fail, they always say 'persons under 16 years not permitted in the hot tub.'  I remember when I was pregnant that I could only watch, enviously, as my husband soaked his aches away, while the most I could do was dangle my feet in for a few minutes, and steam figuratively.  This was because high heat, like that in a hot tub, could damage the baby incubating inside me.  So, I get pretty concerned when I see toddlers and preschoolers paddling around in the 92 degree plus bubbles of a public hot tub. 

I can't imagine how little thought must go into allowing this, and I think it's because it's a public place therefore it must be safe.  People see one family do it, and next thing you know it's a toddler fest.  But that doesn't make it right.  This past week, I saw the cutest 2 1/2 year old girl complaining to her grandmother that she didn't want to go in the hot tub, that it was too hot.  Her grandmother convinced her to stay and she played happily for about 20 minutes.  I happened to be there too, enjoying my allotted, non-pregnant 20 minutes.  However, just as I was getting ready to leave, the little girl splashing in front of me began vomitting profusely.  I was out of there faster than a flash, letting the attendant know.  I later saw the woman and her granddaughter again, and the older woman was at pains to let me know that the girl had swallowed too much water, leading her to vomit.  I suggested that perhaps the hot tub had been too hot for a little one, but the woman brushed aside my concern.  Oh well.  Maybe her granddaughter will remind her the next time.  For now, though, I'm learning to follow my children's lead and resist manufacturing 'ideal' memories, having their kind of fun, and letting us create the good times for ourselves.