Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Slip Slidin' Away

Dear Makers of the Oh So Popular and Summertime Standby, aka Slip n' Slide,

I thought you should know something about your product.

You see, we have been purchasing Slip n' Slides for years now. Years, I tell ya! When the boys (who are now 10 and 12 years old, respectively) were little, I always bought the old fashioned kind, with one sliding surface and no fancy bells or whistles, no superhero gracing its surfaces, no clown waiting at the end in a gigantic blow up pool for them to slide into...just the basic model.

And they were fine with that.

In fact, they probably never even suspected that they had more choices. Ah, the days before the children actually paid attention to the products in the stores we frequent. Instead, they spent all of their time begging me for a chocolate bar or fighting over who got to ride on the bottom of the cart. Those were the days...

Anyway, this year I decided to go all out.

And I mean ALL.

I got the double (not the triple, I didn't want to go that far out) slide with the inflatable skim boards. The kids in the photo on the box looked like they were having a rollicking (does anyone ever say that anymore?) good time and looked to be about the ages of my boys, so it was the obvious choice. I knew Katie would love it too, because she is my danger girl.

Now, summer is half over in our neck of the woods. That Slip n' Slide has been used too many times to count. I, however, have never had the dubious honor of putting that thing away after a day of having children skim its surface and splash in the waters that collect in puddles in the low spots. Heck, even the dog has enjoyed this product, and for that I give you many, many kudos.

But can someone please tell me why there is no drain plug at the other end of the slide? The end that the hose does not attach to?

Anyone? Bueller?

Have you ever tried to drain one of these things?

Good grief! I know I am not a rocket scientist, far from it. But whoever designed this product did not have this simple (but necessary) task in mind. Not at all. I gave up on trying to get it back into the box after it's first use, but still...you must get all the water out of it before folding it up and storing it somewhere (anywhere will do) while it is not in use.

Let's just say you owe me one large sized bottle of aloe vera to treat the sunburn I got while standing on my porch (not a cocktail in sight mind you) squeezing every last drop of water I could from the tiny holes of that Slip n' Slide. Every single drop.

In the future, could you please ask your product development team to fix this little oversight? Pretty please?

Signed,
Just Another Mom Complaining About Summer Activities

PS - I like mine on the rocks. Thanks.

8 comments:

Kyla said...

This is why they need mom testers!

I remember when carts had bottoms you could ride on!

Sheila said...

I remember the old slip N slides when I was a kid. Hell, I told the kids we should wrap ourselves in garbage bags & through ourselves down our tarp covered hill. I'm just kidding about the garbage bag thing- that's dangerous. :-)

Anonymous said...

My husband nearly had a heart attack the first time I purchased a Slip n' Slide for my kids. He could only imagine the destruction to the yard as each child gleefully slid down the slick surface. We haven't purchased one in quite some time though, mainly because the house we live in has more of an orchard than back yard. Thanks for the hilarious post. I've enjoyed your blog for some time, it always seems to make me smile.

Kelly said...

I understand the appeal of the Slip N Slide, but I always ended up with a headache after using one. I was like, you expect me to dive with the full force of my body onto a slick yet hard surface?

I can see the issue with draining the behemoth you got.

Audrey at Barking Mad said...

I was always the kid with the "flop burns" from my slip and slide. Back then I didn't have enough fat on me to cushion the blow. *lol*

I'm tempted to get one for the Little Imp, but at the same time, after reading this, maybe not. That's a whole lotta work!

James (SeattleDad) said...

I'm still just at the Sprinkler stage, but the slip n slide is in my future. Hopefully they will have this gross oversight rectified by that time. Cheers.

Kendra said...

I've wondered for years whether to get one of those. With two boys and a little girl, I know it would get a lot of use. But would they find a way to bang heads by running in opposite directions? Would we end up with a giant mud pit where the slip and slide ended?

When I was little, our neighbors had a giant party for my friend's dad. And they made a giant plastic banner that read, "Lordy, Lordy, Chuck is Forty!" Our backyard sloped down to end in a tiny (ankle deep) creek. And when they were done with that banner, we took it and it became our very own slip and slide. That was one glorious summer, but that was also one impressive mud pit by the end of it.

At the moment, we have three kiddy pools (an error; he thought he was only buying one, but they were stuck together) and a sprinkler. But the more I think about it, the more I think this sounds like an awful lot of fun!

CollegeNannies said...

I LOVED Slip n' Slide as a child! I think the plain Jane slides are much better and longer than the crazy one's they make today! As a kid my dad just bought a huge sheet of plastic and we put a hose on it and that was our Slip n' Slide. Mind you, this was about 5 times longer than any Slip n' Slide you could buy at Target!