Pool PSA a S/O of sorts

I can't like your PSA enough.

I was a very strong swimmer growing up.  We belonged to a pool club, where I went most days in the summer, and all our neighbors had pools, which I was in every day that I wasn't at the pool club.  Still, I almost drowned at ten because I did a stupid underwater trick in the pool ladder and there were no adults supervising.  The other kids in the pool didn't notice.  If the seventeen-year-old brother of the host kid hadn't come out of the house when he did, I'd be dead.  Even if your kids are a little older, and strong swimmers, and you don't need to watch them like a hawk, I think it's a good idea to have an adult poolside and checking in.

For little kids, or non-swimming kids, I think the specific responsibility and hawk approach is the only way to go.  My absolute worst fights with relatives have all involved pool supervision, or lack thereof, and while I am a pretty free-range parent in a lot of ways, those ways do not involve water.

Also make sure that your life vests are the newer kind that roll you over on your back if you're face down in the water. I've seen some watersport places that provide life vests that have really old life vests. We'd also sometimes wear the tubes (just a ring around your waist) while water skiing, but it's not going to do any good if you get knocked out. 

Little kids need the vests that has the strap between their legs and fasten it! The vest isn't going to help when the kid slips out of it. 

I was swimming in the roped off area at our beach that had lifeguards (well known for riptides) one day with friends. The riptide was so strong that all the sand was sucked away, leaving a very deep hole. (my dh and I have been in a tide so strong that we couldn't stand up in knee deep water!) 

We were being pulled under the rope, so we were waving and trying to get the lifeguard's and our mothers' attention. They just waved back--except the lifeguard who was busy chatting up girls in bikinis. Everyone started panicking, but I remembered what my dad had told us--swim parallel to the shore. I yelled for everyone to grab the rope and use it to go parallel to the side rope which went back to shore. 

The guy friend I was with panicked and was trying to climb on my shoulders, so I slapped him and drug him to the rope. When we got back to shore we couldn't believe nobody noticed how far out we were. Our moms red the lifeguard the riot act.

It's a good idea at the beach or lake to have a signal to show you're in distress. It's hard to tell sometimes with splashing and throwing your arms up, etc. 

Also if there are red flags--DON'T GO IN THE WATER. Where I lived, several people drowned every year. The town stopped hiring lifeguards because swimming there was so risky. Many times there were multiple drownings--a child or someone who got pulled out and then someone who went in to get them. My dad ran the airport for a while which was where the helicopters refueled. The crews couldn't believe how many people still swam and how far out they went despite all the signs and flags. Especially when grown ups were being pulled out yet still let their kids swim. I hated seeing the helicopters fly up and down the beach--that meant that someone got pulled out. Only a couple of times did someone get rescued alive. 

agreed when my older daughter was two - she walked down the steps of a pool and just kept walking under the water...so grateful to the pool owner who jumped in fully dressed and grabbed her out

Me either.

Pools & the ocean are places that I don't take my children at this point in life. I would not be able to hawk eye my youngest two (both under 5), and I have no one else to ask to handle that responsibility.

I feel for young kids in water, it needs to be a 1:1 ratio, one adult buddied and responsible for one kid.

It only takes seconds for a happy day to turn into a tragedy.


Heck, we have a tiny splash pool (meant for infants and very young toddlers) and I keep my feet in it while they play in it, and I don't read (I also don't have a smartphone, so don't do that either). I mention that I don't read because if they were just playing in the backyard, I would have no problem sitting on a lawn chair and reading a novel while they played around me. But not when water is involved. I cannot do anything that distracts me from keeping them safe.

My parents have a large pond in their backyard.  When my dd and nephew were younger we often had large family parties where all the kids would swim (our kids and our cousin's children etc).  My sister and I along with my husband would always make sure that one of us three was watching our kids. There were always other adults there too but we didn't trust them to watch their kids AND ours.  My one aunt has an eagle eye and I know she always kept a special eye out for our two but we always made sure that one of the three of us was watching also.  And would make sure to specifically say something to one another to make it clear who was on duty.

We were in the water almost from the day the boys were born. We are surrounded by water here, and are able to be in some body of it for a good portion of the year.

I also think that beyond making sure that you are watching the kids that formal swim lessons through a legitimate agency like the YMCA are really important. Not only do they teach the mechanics, but they also teach how to be safe in the water. Knowing how to swim is good, but knowing how to get out of trouble is equally necessary.

Both of my kids started lessons early, with my youngest starting at 9 months. I spent a lot of time in the water with them but over that time they became strong and confident swimmers. They both got their diving certification(s) as soon as they were old enough to do so.

But all that started because they had two parents (my ex is a strong swimmer-he surfed for years) who were comfortable in the water and through lessons and working with us, they never felt unsure in the water. 

I read about that-it was so sad! I actually used that article to point out to both of my boys that they should never be too overconfident.

I would say that 90% of the beaches that we go to don't have life guards so it is all on us to watch each other. My mom is almost 70 and one of the stronger swimmers of the family-but she is still 70. She gets watched too. 

I watched a parent jump into the pool, fully clothed, to save her 5 year old swim when the YMCA swim instructor did not notice one of his five students slipped under water and wasn't close enough to the edge to grab it.

It takes more than one person with eyes like a hawk to keep swimmers safe.

I hate pool parties. My mantra is "when everbody is watching the kids nobody is watching the kids."
I would much rather take my 3 to the pool or beach myself. My DH thinks I'm nuts but I'm constantly counting and recounting.

I had a friend whose 6yo grandson drowned in a busy pool full of family and other adults at a Mexican resort years ago. She was never, ever the same again.

I was pretty free-range with my own kids, but after seeing what my friend's family went through, now I am manic about pool safety with DGS. Really, I didn't realize just how easy it is to lose a kid in the water. Sometimes you can't even see the body at the bottom of the pool!

We had 4 adults and 6 young kids (all of whom were at least basic swimmers) at the pool one time. One of the adults had been playing with the kids, letting them jump into the water and he'd catch them. DS was about 3. He wasn't paying attention and didn't realize that the game was over - he jumped into the water, and no one was there. I was right there watching already, but thankfully at DS's swim lessons they drilled them on "turn, swim to the wall" anytime they got scared or panicked. So he automatically turned and swam for the wall. In that case, I was close enough and watching closely enough that it would have ended OK, but I was able to see firsthand how quickly bad things can happen.

Many cardiac conditions can be triggered by water and swimming. It may not be drowning that started the event but it'll be drowning that finishes it. Always consider that in a drowning resusitations that an AED may need to be used immediately.

My family has long qt, a sudden Arrythmia death syndrome, no swimming alone, no swimming without an AED on deck, no swimming with just another long qt person present.

Lakes are super dangerous here right now. It gets hot and people think they can go swimming. But the water is still way too cold.

My dad had a friend that drowned when they were teens. A group of the guys were swimming across the lake and one of them didn't make it

Water safety has been drilled into our heads knowing about that neighborhood loss. But we noticed that our generation knew it and talked about it, but our kids did not hear that story. So even though we taught them water safety we forgot to share that human connection.

We also have a friend that was paralyzed while in the military because he dove into shallow water