Every day now my toddler wakes up and says “I wanna go to the POOL” or “I wanna go to the BEACH.” Yeah, me too. And it’s summer, so it is the season of water mania. 
 
Pools we have in this area. AD Clark is free and open (hip hip!!) and many of the private pools, such as Chapel Hill Tennis Club and Southern Village, have begun their devilish courtship of the heat and humidity.
But did you know we have beaches, too? Yeah, that’s right, over at Jordan Lake. And no, you won’t get pristine white sand and turquoise waters like travel brochures boast about. But hey, these days a beach is a beach and so is life. I’ve personally tried out Seaforth Recreation Area and Parker’s Creek and had fun (even in the off season).
 
Yet can we get together, folks, and lobby Chapel Hill and Carrboro to install some fantastic spraygrounds? Because sometimes parents don’t want to pay for a pool, or fight with pool crowds and swim teams, or deal with monitoring a child in brackish water at a beach. Sometimes we want to sit in the shade and smile lovingly and complacently while our child runs through hoses and fountains powered by little hands.
And speaking of monitoring, let’s chat for a second about being a parent and having water in the picture. Because I never want to be an overly-paranoid parent and have my child develop phobias based on me scaring them about life. But nor do I want to deal with anything of any sort of near dangerous when it comes to water. That is no laughing matter. So yeah, my toddler will be the one in the large life preserver at the beach this summer. Please don’t laugh at him, it’s not his fault. It’s his momma. You know, the one sitting in the water at the beach’s edge smiling lovingly and complacently.

By the way, I always love your thoughts and opinions, too.  So let me know what you think about getting spraygrounds, making your child run around in large floatation devices, or pools you love!  And, of course, you can find me over on my other blog if you just can’t get enough ideas of family friendly ideas.