3 Tips For Keeping Your Kids Safe Around Swimming Pools
While many people think of summer as the only time when they need to worry about their kids staying safe around water, there are water hazards present around your children at all times of the year. However, swimming pools and other larger bodies of water can be dangerous for your children to be around if they’re not careful. Check out FloatingSomewhere.com for more safety tips to keep your kids safe near swimming pools.
So to help both you and your children know how to best stay safe when in these types of situation, here are three tips for keeping your kids safe around swimming pools.
Use Multiple Layers Of Prevention
To best protect not only your children but other people who might get injured when around your swimming pool, it’s wise to have multiple layers of protection that you employ. The more layers of protection you have, the smaller the chances will be that something dangerous will take place and injure your child.
As part of these layers of protection, Mitchell Parker, a contributor to Houzz.com, suggests that you do things like have a fence or other barrier around your pool, use gates that automatically lock behind you, install an alarm when the perimeter is breached, and teach your kids how to swim and what to do in case of an emergency. With all of these protective layers in place, it should be harder for accidents to happen.
Create Rules About Running And Diving
Aside from drowning, some of the most dangerous parts about being around a pool include getting into the water in a safe way.
For many children, they’re so excited about the prospect of swimming that they run all along the edge of the pool. Sadly, this is the perfect recipe for them slipping and falling, which could result in a nasty injury. Because of this, you’ll want to establish rules about no running around the pool area.
Additionally, Cari Nierenberg, a contributor to LiveScience.com, recommends that you also set rules about diving in your pool. For many home swimming pools, the pool won’t be deep enough for people to dive in. If this is the case with your pool, make sure you state the rules about no diving very clearly.
Practice Touch Supervision
As your children get older, learn how to swim, and become more confident in the water, the level of supervision you’ll have to employ will lessen. But when your kids are little or aren’t strong swimmers, HealthyChildren.org shares that the best supervision is touch supervision.
With touch supervision, you as the parent and supervisor are to always stay within arm’s reach of your swimming child. By doing this, you’ll be right next to them if they get into trouble while in the water.
To help ensure that your kids don’t get hurt or otherwise injured when in or around swimming pools, consider using the tips mentioned above to keep your children safe.