"We don't swim in your toilet, so please don't pee in our pool."
This sign was a staple of my childhood summers. Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, where everyone survived the humidity via a backyard swimming pool, moms uselessly zip-tied signs to their wooden fences advertising to all: "Welcome to our –ool; notice there's no ‘P' in it. Let's keep it that way."
But in Memphis, no one had an ocean. After a decade ofliving in southern California, I still struggle every summer with the fact that I seem to be the only one on the Pacific coast uncomfortable with backwashing into the sea.
Some ingenious parents even invented the urban legend of the "pee indicator chemical." Even when I became a lifeguard and learned of its folklore, the vision of a red halo around my waist was a strong enough scare tactic to keep me hopping out for potty breaks. But for the most part, our friends' parents just drunkened their pools with enough chlorine for anyone to care.Regardless, I was raised believing you release your… output… in the proper place, namely inside.
This issue did not come up with my husband in our premarital courtship. Because I don't think the past fourteen years would have actually ever happened had I known before we set up shop that he truly believes a dog's saliva is better for a household than a cleaning service, and that human urine is more sterile than Windex. Obviously, he takes his potty breaks in high tide (and I wash the windows at home).
Others I know take his team...
READ THE REST:
Cracking Up: Do you let your kids add a little pee to the sea - OC Moms - The Orange County Register
