One MUST-HAVE Item for the Park

 

First aid kits are nice, but I have discovered one MUST-HAVE item that everyone parent needs when taking your kids to the park. I have used it time and again.

 

A cooling towel. Seriously.

 

And no, it isn’t to keep you cool (although that might come in handy on hot summer days).

 

This grand epiphany actually happened one day on accident. Our family went to the park one morning after it had rained the night before. The sun had not yet had time to evaporate the puddles of water on each of the slides. I quickly rummaged through our car, trying to find a towel or something to sop up the massive amounts of water so our kids could enjoy some much-needed park time. I used our grocery cart cover first, which couldn’t even soak up the water from one slide, let alone four. Thankfully, I happened to spot the cooling towel that I bought for Big Brother’s ridiculously hot baseball games (for which its intended purpose it was never used). It was completely dry and I was hopeful that it would absorb the water.

 

It worked like a charm! I was stunned by how much water that little cooling towel soaked up. Although I rarely use it to keep us cool, I do make sure to always leave it in the car in case of wet slides/swings. Sprinkler systems at our local parks are notorious for gracing slides, swings, and other park equipment with water so this is seriously a must-have for our local parks!

 

 

 

PS- My husband balked at my purchase of a cooling towel in the first place because he said it is basically just a glorified chamois (pronounced “shammy” for us Mid-Westerners). Based on his obvious expertise, I would assume that a shammy would work just as well. ;)

 

PPS- I couldn’t find a link to the exact cooling towel I bought (I purchased it on a whim from Ace Hardware), but here is a similar one.

 

 

What is your MUST-HAVE item for the park?