Little Fish

We have a swimming pool at home. Swimming pools are great, and trust me, in a Brisbane summer, there is nothing better. The upside of course is that during the summer months you can go out and soak at any time of the day or night, and the water usually retains the temperature of a warm bath. It cools you down from the humidity and heat. The downside is that pools require maintenance. Pools go green if you don't keep them at the right balance. Pools get dirty if you don't keep the vacuum cleaner un-knotted.

As we have a swimming pool, we also have the requisite toys that go with the pool. We have pool noodles, swimming mats, water pistols, and things - like pool rings - which sink to the bottom of the pool and you then have to dive down to retrieve. This Christmas, we got a new set of toys known as Little Fish. The problem with Little Fish is just that, they are little fish. They are about the size of a large stone or rock, made of an incredibly durable plastic, and sink to the bottom of the pool when thrown in. When our kids threw them in the pool, they stayed on the bottom of the pool.

Twice now, I've had Little Fish stuck in the pool vacuum. Twice now I've had to cut open the vacuum hose to retrieve the stupid Little Fish which has wedged itself into the hose, and cut off water flow. Twice now, I've had to make running repairs to the skimmer box and re-check all of the filter piping to make sure the Little Fish hasn't made it into the filter piping (at which point I would really be screaming). There won't be a third time for the little fish. I realise this isn't necessarily about parenting, but no amount of good or bad parenting would be able to stop children from throwing Little Fish into a swimming pool, because it is fun!

Ciao for Now, from a fishless Angry Dad.