swimming pools

My older brothers told me if a person did a belly flop off the high dive, their stomach would split open. They said they actually saw this happen at the local pool - blood and guts floating in the water. I never got my swimming certificate that year, because I refused to jump off the high dive!

Annelee

When at the beach, after eating, our mother would tell my brother and me that we could not go swimming for one hour. When we asked why (we were about five and nine at the time), we were told it was because the combination of food and water may cause cramps. When we were older (young adults) and both received scientific education, we learned that there was no scientific basis to this information/theory. Neverheless, we had to wait the necessary time period, along with our cousins, who were also often at the beach with us.

SPC52

when i was little if a stayed in the paddling pool 2 long my toes would rinkle and i thought i was a prune tree

Anon

I used to be really afraid of swimming pool drains, and no matter how small they were I thought they were capable of sucking me in. I would never go into the deep end of the pool where the drains were, so I still can't swim very well.

Anon

When I was 5, my family and I were on vacation somewhere and we were swimming in the hotel's pool. I refused to go in the deep end of it because of the stingray that was laying in the bottom. I was sure it was going to eat me. In reality...*sigh*....it was the cover of the filter

Aly

I use to feel sorry for my bathing suit because I thought it couldn't breath while it was under water so I would get out of the pool every few minutes so it could get a breath.

Greg

I used to believe(and I still do) that when ever I was in my Grandfather's pool, if I swam over the drain, it would star a whirlpool and I would get sucked up. To this day I've never swam in the deep end of any pool.

Anon

I used to be afraid of the drains in pools and bathtubs, because I thought they would suck me down them. Whenever I took baths, I'd stay as far away from the drain as possible. I just avoided swimming altogether. It got worse when my parents told me to "stay away from the deep end," because I looked down and saw that huge drain there! I thought people were crazy for swimming at all, and I always tried to keep my parents out of the pool.

Everyone just thought that I was afraid of drowning, they kept trying to teach me to swim. I was terrified! My parents finally found out and told me that it was impossible to fit down the drain, but I wasn't convinced and refused to go into the pool, or even walk near the deep-end for fear that I'd fall in and be sucked up.

To this day I am wary of drains, and I never have learned how to swim.

sucked down the drain

When I was about 4 or 5 Iwe had these pool floats and I thought they could talk and had feelings so I gave them all names and kept them all in our pool at once and pretended I had a herd full of them.

My grandparents told me that there was this guy named Walter the Float Man that took all the floats at the end of summer and stored them in his home. he also had a daughter named Rozz. So thats where I believed all our floats would go. Yes I was a very weird child who would believe anything

xPiebaldDoex

Right before I started Kindergarten, my mom told me that we would be going in a carpool. I was extreamly excited, envisioning the swim party that would be going on with my friends in this vehicle with a pool in the back!

Anon

my uncle wouldn't let us go swimming after lunch, he said it was the alligator's turn to use the pool. somehow, when i was 4 and moved from new orleans to houston the alligator came with me and lived under my bed. i was at least 24 before i was able to sleep without the sheets tucked in all the way around the sides of the bed and i will STILL pull my foot back if i notice it dangling past the edge of the bed.

mekare

When I was 6 my swim coach told me that if you slow down when your swimming, that the pool alligators will get you. I was afraid to go to practice for awhile, until my mom told me that there werent any alligators.

M J Aaaaaaaaaaaasmith

I used to believe that the smurfs lived on the other side of the pool filter at the bottom of the deep end of the pool. When my older brothers dove into the deep end and didn't come up immediately, I thought that the smurfs were bringing them to their enchanted world to meet the other smurfs! I was so jealous.

Lia

When I was young, my mom took my sisters and I to a public swimming pool in the summer. I questioned whether we were allowed in because we went to Catholic School (vs. "public" school).

Anon

i used to believe there were invisible sharks in the deep end of the pool, thanks to my older brother.

Melissa

I always believed that the ladder on top of large RVs etc,led to a mini pool because the ladders look alot alike. To this day I still look twice.

kami

After I watched Jaws for the first time when I was little I could not go swimming by myself. If I was swimming with family or friends and they got out of the pool I would sit on the steps in the shallow til someone else came in the pool. I used to think that Jaws would come out of the light in the deep end and eat me. I did this until I was about 16 and realized I was being childish.

Shark Killer

There used to be a swimming pool dealership near our town. They had a few pre-formed pools sitting on their lot. When I was 4, I thought those were bathtubs for giants. When I started reading, and could read the sign, I was very disappointed to learn that they were just pools!

Cyndi

When I was too old to know better, I believed that there were swimming pools on top of RV's because of the ladder on the back - hey, it looked like a pool ladder!

Anon