The public pools in Iceland are beautiful and warm and a great place to take your little ones any time of year. (Swimming outside with snow in your hair is a really cool experience!) It is well worth the effort of getting everyone ready for the pool. BUT yes, what you’ve heard is true–you are expected to shower naked (soap, shampoo, and all) before entering the pool. No, you can’t skip that part. No, your kids can’t skip that part, even if they don’t want to be naked in front of strangers. What you need to know, then, is how it all works; that’s what we’ll tell you in this post.
With my kids, at least, part of making a new and anxiety-inducing situation more comfortable is talking through it step by step beforehand so that they know exactly what to expect. Kids who feel like experts and who are telling you what happens next are not kids who are worrying! So in this post, we will try to give you the info you need to let them become experts. All the pictures here are from public pools, not the fancier spas, so they won’t be showing the upscale end of things! [Read more…] about Swimming with kids in Iceland: Navigating the locker room