Water Safety: Keep Kids Safe at the Pool

As the summer season begins, many families are opening their pools, enjoying their first swim of the season at a neighbor’s pool, or planning to spend hot, summer days at the community pool. Be sure to follow these tips and guidelines for a safe swimming environment:

• • o      Stay within an arm’s reach of children—whether the children are in the pool or playing around it. If you need to leave the pool area for any reason, take children with you.

  • o     Don’t get distracted during parties. Whether you’re hosting or attending a pool party, there’s likely to be a lot of people and activities going on around the pool; this can distract parents and increase the potential for accidents. Whether other people are present or not, you should always have your eyes on your children and remain within an arm’s reach of them—especially toddlers.

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  • o      Keep your phone by the pool. Make it a regular practice to bring a cordless phone or cell phone to the pool with you in case of an emergency. Have paper with directions anyone could read to the 911 responder to explain the cross street, address and how to get to the pool from the house.

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  • o      Learn CPR. “At least one person in every household should become CPR-certified,” says  Greg Stockton, water safety spokesperson for the American Red Cross. For homes with a pool, you should always have at least one CPR-certified person in charge of supervising the pool.”

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    • •         It’s an important skill that most people can easily learn. In fact, children as young as 10 can be trained in CPR, provided they have the strength to perform the skills and the maturity to understand them. “There is no minimum age, but it’s usually around the upper elementary school age (10 – 12 years) that an individual would have the strength and size necessary to give adequate chest compressions to an adult, which requires pressing the chest down about 2 inches,” Stockton explains.
  •        To get certified, visit www.redcross.org to locate your local chapter. Most chapters post their course schedules online and have classes available every month. Depending on your location, costs range from $45 to $85 for the adult CPR with AED course. Anyone who completes a CPR course should take a recertification class every year, which is less expensive.

Toys vs. PFDs

Floatation devices often give parents a false sense of security. It’s important to know which devices can be used for water safety, and which items are simply toys and novelties:

o        Life jackets function as personal flotation devices, but must be accompanied by supervision. “The best safety or floatation aid is a U.S. Coast Guard-approved Personal Flotation Device (PFD)—ideally, one that keeps the person’s head above the water whether or not they are conscious or [physically] able to do so,” says Chris Brewster, president of the U.S. Lifeguarding Association. 

        Keep in mind, however, that even a Coast Guard-approved PFD doesn’t guarantee that the person or child will float face-up. And since toddlers don’t have the swimming skills or upper body strength needed to keep their faces out of the water, constant adult supervision is still required.

o        Do not use floaties. Inflatable water wings, often called “floaties” or “swimmies,” are highly unsafe because they do not serve as a safety device for children. “Floaties are a very undependable and unwise form of floatation device for kids. Toddlers have very weak arm strength; their arms can go up over their head, allowing the floaties to fall off,” Brewster says. The product can also tear easily and deflate over time.

o        Remember that swim noodles, tubes, rafts, etc. are TOYS. “Any floating device that isn’t securely fastened around the person is a problem,” Brewster says. Therefore, swim noodles, boogie boards, inflatable tubes, and other inflatable items are considered toys and should not be used as water safety devices.

Keep these important guidelines in mind to ensure a fun, safe time at the pool. For more information about creating layers of protection around your own pool, visit the Articles page to learn the requirements for safety fences, safety covers, and alarms .