My Reason for Wanting a Pool

I have never been the type of person who wanted a house with a pool. Ever since I was a young girl, my mother drilled into my brain that kids drown in pools.

I grew up near the beach on the Mid North Coast of NSW. I loved the sound of the crashing waves and the feel of the sand on my feet. However, I was never confident swimming in the ocean.

I also never learned how to swim properly. My extent of swimming lessons were the few we had in primary school in the late 80s. My swimming teacher stepped on my fingers to try and get me to let go of the edge. I mastered dog paddling but that was about it. 

When I became a grown up and got a gig as a journalist, one of the interviews that always stuck with me was with a mother whose two-year-old son almost drowned in their backyard pool. He got through a loose bar in the fence while mum went into the house only moments earlier to bring the washing in. Luckily he survived but it left him with permanent brain damage. 

So when my husband brought home a pool pamphlet one day, I was of course nervous. We have two children aged 5 and one. I didn't want one of my children to end up brain damaged or worse. But then something inside me changed. Instead of thinking that a pool could cost a life, what if it could save one? If my children had the opportunity to be around water and learn to be confident swimmers, they may not grow up fearing water like me.

Australia is surrounded by water. It makes sense to learn how to swim and understand that water is fun but you also have to respect it and be safe. That is my goal for them. 

Me as a young tot at the beach near our family home.