Dangers to Kids From Chlorinated Swimming Pools

You worry about your kids getting ticks outside. You're anxious about whether they'll get sunburned. You wring your hands about their diet and you fret over whether you should get them off that darn computer. And now here’s one more thing to worry about: the pool.

That’s right, the pool. The swimming pool that we’ve all been turning to in this hot weather. The place where you and your kids are happily splashing and your kids are practicing their best cannonballs. That pool.

It turns out that breathing the air around chlorinated pools may be leading to asthma and other respiratory ailments in kids. This makes sense because chlorine is a pretty heavy duty chemical but it’s sure to be a source of frustration to parents like me who for years made their kids take swimming lessons, who dip in the pool every day and who can’t help wondering: Is there any activity or place under the sun that is safe anymore?

One recent study of 121 6 to 12-year-old boys by doctors at the University College Cork in Ireland found that the more years boys had swum in an indoor pool, the more likely they were to have asthma.

The researchers said that the chlorine Products used in swimming pools, including chlorine gas, could interact with organic products (pee, sweat, hair) to produce nitrogen trichloride, “a known respiratory irritant,” according to the Irish Times.

Several other studies have had similar findings. One 2006 study of youth athletes in Quebec, for example, found that young “high-level swimmers,” coughed and wheezed more than indoor soccer players. About 30 percent of “elite” swimmers have asthma, according to some estimates, according to the New York Times Well blog.

Some research also shows that babies and toddlers shouldn’t be exposed to indoor pools at all with toddlers showing the same effects from indoor pools, as you would find in smokers, according to the Times. (Again this makes sense but only makes all of us wince when we think of all those Mommy and Me classes).

Experts say that casual swimmers probably aren’t at much risk and most seem to suggest that indoor pools are more dangerous than outdoor ones. However, one study of 847 European school children found an increased risk of asthma and respiratory ailments among children who use outdoor pools the most.

Since we happen to have an outdoor pool that we use every day in the summer, I don’t know what I should do with this information. The experts say that parents should keep a look out for respiratory ailments among swimmers and have them see a doctor but this seems obvious or as any kid might tell you, “Duh.”

The authors of the Irish study admitted the study was small and recommended better ventilation and more attention to hygiene at pools. One doctor told the Times that he advises swimmers to avoid choosing colleges where they can smell the chemicals in the pools before they get to the pool.

All this is well and good but still frustrating. As the mother of two boys with asthma who for years took swimming lessons at indoor pools, what the heck l am I supposed to do with this information? Should I bring a fan into the building next time my kids take swimming lessons? Should I run around dispensing swim diapers to make sure no pee gets into the pool? Gimme a break.

If your kid is a swimmer who spends much of his time either practicing or attending swim meets, this is a study guaranteed to make you want to bang your head against the diving board in frustration.

Sometimes I think it’s better to be blissfully uninformed. Unless you make your kid wear a gas mask while he splashes in the pool, it just might be better not to know about this one.

Family Meals: The Secret Weapon Against Childhood Obesity

When everyone’s home, I sometimes feel like a short order cook. Lunch, dinner, breakfast, I cook it all up with a smile. Mostly.

This means more dishes and more headaches. Today, for example, my older son and my husband both sat down to lunch late and Raymond had just a few bites of potato salad and a few mouthfuls of chicken. Sigh.

But the good news is that children of parents who cook at home and who eat together as a family are less likely to be obese. This was one of the interesting points food advocate Michael Pollan made in his piece in the New York Times Magazine Sunday on how cooking is becoming a spectator sport, with watching cooking shows becoming more popular than actually cooking.

In an interview on NPR, Pollan explained that many adults are watching an hour of cooking shows while spending only half an hour on meal preparation.

I don’t watch cooking shows and I usually spend half an hour to an hour at the most on meal preparation because who has time? I tend to get a bit huffy when people start ranting about not enough time being spent in the kitchen because in most houses it’s the mom who spends time in the kitchen. And if Mom doesn’t want to lovingly prepare meals after working all day, that’s her prerogative.

That said, I do spend time lovingly preparing meals because I believe in them. Yes, we are having hot dogs for dinner tonight. But on most nights, I at least slice up some vegetables for my little darlings.

It turns out all the alarm over the disappearance of family meals may be overblown. Researchers who tracked 14,000 children from 1996 to 1999 in the “Growing Up Today,” study released earlier this year found that 84 percent said they eat home most days or every day. The other good news for all those families who do have a family dinner hour is that the children who did eat at home most days were 15 percent more likely to be obese. (See an article on the study and other obesity studies here).

The researchers noted that while family dinners may not prevent obesity, they at least ensure that children are getting good food. The obesity rate for children ages 2 to 5 increased from a 1976 to 2000 study to a 2003 to 2006 study from 5 to 12 percent, and from 6 to 17 percent among 6 to 11 year olds, according to the CDC.

There are complex reasons for obesity that go deeper than family meals. But it’s good to know while I’m sweating over that hot stove, that I’m keeping my kids healthy when I’m, keeping them away from McDonald’s.