So that deck changing thread got me thinking, what is normal for public sessions? I'm going back to my UK/USA comparisons........
When I took my kids swimming to the public sessions in the UK, I'd pack up a bag of suits, towels, floats, toys etc and schlepp along to the pool to change in the changing rooms.
Now an FYI 'cos things are different here....Changing rooms consist of a number of cubicles for people to change in private as well as a communal change area and are split between male and female change - although some pools have a changing village with huge family-sized cubicles and no communal change. All modern (ie non-victorian) UK pools have pretty good changing facilities, even those with not much more than a 25m 6 lane pool.
So I take my kids to our local-ish pool here in Texas. 8 lane, 25yd competition pool, plus leisure pool with waterslide, lazy river and kids play structure and walk into the women's locker room.
It is full of lockers and has 2 small benches...eh? Where do I change???
Anyway being a communal-change gal, I get myself and the kids suited up and we swim. We finish swimming, we shower, remove suits wrap ourselves in a towel and dress by one of the benches.
Now whilst drying off and dressing there are a few ladies/kids shuffling around changing in the toilets and dressing in the showers. I get a couple of odd looks standing there in my underwear directing 2 small children to dress as well, but don't care - we're all naked under our clothes after all.
While we were swimming a number of families came in, most it seemed already in their suits, they "undressed" on the deck and when they left they wrapped a towel around the kids or pulled on a t-shirt and that was it. And it wasn't summer! All I could think of was the chlorine eating away at their suits.
So what is normal? and am I the only female living in Texas not afraid to strip down in the women's locker room? :afraid:
And do they build pools here with crappy changing because no-one uses it? Or does no-one use the locker rooms because they're so crappy?
Or is this just a Texas thing, not a USA thing? :D
Parents
Former Member
There is no normal. It varies by region, age group, and gym culture.
One pool nearby has a G-rated locker room where almost everyone showers in their suit and does a "deck change" under a towel, even though they're in a single-gender locker room.
Another pool, not 5 miles away, has an NC-17 locker room where it's almost obligatory to strut around and have a conversation with a complete stranger with all of your parts flapping in the breeze.
I think it depends a lot on age. The college kids (and younger) seem oddly conservative. My personal theory is that high school gym class has changed in the decades since I experienced it, and not as many kids these days get their modesty forcibly trained out of them.
Changing cubicles are definitely not the norm in the US, though. Lockers and benches are standard.
There is no normal. It varies by region, age group, and gym culture.
One pool nearby has a G-rated locker room where almost everyone showers in their suit and does a "deck change" under a towel, even though they're in a single-gender locker room.
Another pool, not 5 miles away, has an NC-17 locker room where it's almost obligatory to strut around and have a conversation with a complete stranger with all of your parts flapping in the breeze.
I think it depends a lot on age. The college kids (and younger) seem oddly conservative. My personal theory is that high school gym class has changed in the decades since I experienced it, and not as many kids these days get their modesty forcibly trained out of them.
Changing cubicles are definitely not the norm in the US, though. Lockers and benches are standard.
