Sometimes it’s best not to consider pools, kids

“Because I Said So” column for The Commercial Appeal

June 11, 2009

The long days of summer, with no routine, no morning lunch boxes or after-school homework, need to be defined, beg to be shaken up. My wife is a teacher, on vacation for the next couple of months, and I work from home, and the easiest, cheapest way to break up the day is by sending the kids outside for the afternoon.

The heat of a Memphis summer, however, needs to be mitigated. It should be tempered and handled carefully with oven mitts and a welder’s apron, or a fistful of Popsicles and a face full of hose water.

Nothing says summertime in Memphis like stuffing a family of six into a $30 inflatable kiddie pool in the backyard. We look like the last sunburned survivors of a shipwreck in our lifeboat adrift upon mud and sod. But mostly mud … (read more)