[sammyg2]

Funny, I just spent a small fortune putting a pool in and you're covering one up.
I waited until my kids were a little older before doing it but they have both been great swimmers since they were little. At 5 my son could swim half-way across the colorado river without a life vest. No I didn't let him do it by himself, and yes I made sure it was safe.
He's 9 now and a fish and will swim for hours and hours, we have to drag him out of the pool when it's getting late. I'd be willing to bet that when your kids get older that pool will be back in service.

In the mean time keep an eye on your water table and make darned sure you have very good drainage in the back yard.
An empty pool does weird things when the ground around it is completely saturated. Weird things like trying to float. They can pop up out of the ground or crack big time.
Prolly not a deal here in Ca, but in places like FLA empty pools do float sometimes.