I never thought I’d be the dad standing in the changing room comparing prints. But here we are. My youngest, Izzy, has been mad about the water for as long as I can remember. She took to it so fast as a baby that I started calling her “a little mermaid,” and the name’s never really gone away. These days that love of the pool comes with conditions attached.
How did we get here?
It started small. A couple of years ago I picked up a rash vest for her in more or less the same colour as mine. It was on offer and I liked it, that’s all. She noticed before I did. She pointed at the two of us in the changing room mirror and said “we match” like she’d found something genuinely important. That was that. Now it’s a whole production. She checks what I’m wearing before she picks her own kit, not the other way round.
I find this quietly funny. I spent years sat fully clothed at the edge of the pool while a swimming instructor took charge of her big sister, not allowed anywhere near the water myself. Now here I am, in the water, matching prints with the other one.
The bit where I get sensible for a second
Before anyone accuses me of turning a swimming lesson into a fashion shoot, fit still comes first in this house. Girls swimwear that looks brilliant but rides up, gapes at the leg or needs constant adjusting is a swim ruined, no matter how well it coordinates with dad’s shorts. I check the same things I’ve always checked:
- Does it sit snugly without leaving deep marks?
- Does it stay put when she’s kicking about?
- Is it actually comfortable for an hour of splashing, not just five minutes of standing still for a photo?
The matching is the fun part. It’s not the point.
That’s part of why we keep going back to Splash About’s Girls Swimwear. They design swimwear properly for the pool, not just for looking nice next to it, and there’s enough range in there, swimming costumes, rash vests, sun suits, that we can actually build outfits that match rather than just hoping two random items happen to go together.
The actual appeal of matching
If I’m honest with myself about why I keep doing this, it’s not really about the swimwear at all. It’s about the ten seconds before we walk out to the poolside when she looks at me, looks at herself, and grins because we’re a matching pair. Izzy’s always been the confident one in the water, the kid who needs no persuading in. This is just her latest way of pulling me in alongside her. Splash About sum it up nicely on the matching bundles page: “There’s something magical about splashing around together in coordinating swimwear.” It’s hard to disagree. It’s a small thing. It costs nothing extra. But it’s turned into one of those daft little rituals that somehow matters more than it should.
Pool days go quickly, and kids grow out of caring what dad’s wearing embarrassingly fast, or so I’m told by parents further down this road than me. So for now, if she wants us in matching prints, we’re in matching prints. I’ll take the flamingos.
Do your kids insist on matching swimwear, or is it just mine? Let me know in the comments below.
