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WE all know the pain of spending ages blowing and filling up a paddling pool only for it to end up filled with debris and bugs.

Luckily, one mum has come up with the ultimate hack to protect your pool this summer.

Parenting specialist Kirsty Ketley shared her hack on keeping bugs and debris out of her children's paddling pool
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Parenting specialist Kirsty Ketley shared her hack on keeping bugs and debris out of her children's paddling poolCredit: Jam Press/Kirsty Ketley
It can be done with something that’s already lying around the house
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It can be done with something that’s already lying around the houseCredit: Jam Press Vid/Kirsty Ketley

And the best bit is you can do it with something that’s already lying around the house.

Parenting specialist places an old bed sheet over the pool in place of a proper cover.

Her genius hack means she doesn’t have to constantly drain and refill it to get clean water for her kids Ella, ten, and Leo, six.

“When we first got a bigger pool, we were looking at buying a proper pool cover and then we just thought, why not just use a sheet?” the 42-year-old said. 

“It saved us money and does the job well.

“It's helpful to keep the neighbourhood cats from sinking their claws into the inflatable part too.

“The sheet is an old one that we have kept for decorating and I think the covers are a minimum of £10.

“We used to have a bigger pool and used a couple of sheets to cover it fully.”

The expert took to Instagram to share her hack and parents were keen to give it a go themselves.

One viewer said: “Did not know this but will definitely try it this summer, thanks!” 

Another penned: “We just pumped up last year's paddling pool.

“Exactly the same one. 

Great tip, thanks!”

Other tips Kirsty has shared on her Instagram profile are activities to do with your "tweens", how to pack efficiently for holidays and how to keep your children's all day.

For ice cold water, she fills her kids bottles up almost full and then places them in the freezer overnight.

Half an hour before the school run, she takes them out of the freezer so the ice starts to melt into super-cold water.

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