Would you watch your kids go swimming without a lifeguard?

JRKmommy

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 9:28 am

Raisin - I don't understand your comment. Of course kids take swimming lessons with lifeguards present!

Ruchel - find out what sort of supervision the camps have for swimming. My kids receive higher levels of supervision at camp than they would almost anyplace else.

Again - for young children, parent must be in water, within arm's reach, with parent paying active attention.

For older children - someone needs to supervise with DIRECT ATTENTION.

Having adults "around" can give a false sense of security. There needs to be constant visual supervision, because many drowning victims never make a sound (many wrongly believe that they would notice yelling or splashing, but non-swimmers just go under water).

ora_43

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 9:32 am

In shallow water (five feet or less), sure. Not at the beach, but in a pool I would.

It also depends on the age. My kids are pretty young. If they're strong swimmers when they're older, I'd be fine with them swimming in deeper water as well.

eta: I'm not a lifeguard and wouldn't qualify, but I can swim and I know CPR. And I'm talking about kids swimming with adult supervision and no lifeguard, not swimming alone.

Last edited by ora_43 on Mon, Jul 26 2010, 11:53 am; edited 1 time in total

sarahd

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 10:14 am

When I was a daycamp counselor, we were required to take shifts watching the children swim. There was no lifeguard around. One fine day when I was on duty, I saw a child go under the water. It took me a good ten seconds to realize that he was drowning and not playing.

When I was asked a few years later to be head counselor of that daycamp, I refused unless a certified lifeguard was hired to watch the kids at pool time. It did not make me very popular with the camp owner, but she didn't have much of a choice, as no one else wanted the job of head counselor anyhow. Wink

I would not want to watch my kids swim without a lifeguard around. I would take them in the pool with me as long as they stayed right near me all the time in shallow water.

IloveHashem613

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 11:11 am

happyone wrote:

I must be the most horrible mother in the world. There is a pool in my neighborhood that all the children in the area go swimming. There is no lifeguard and I'm the only mother that doesn't allow my daughter to swim there. The other mothers think I'm overprotective but I can handle that. Even if my daughter knows how to swim it's unsafe to get into the pool unless a certified lifeguard it watching out of the water.

you are doing what you are supposed to do and the other mothers are very stupid for letting their kids swim without supervision. I sincerely hope they never learn the hard way how stupid they are being.... more power to ya!

JRKmommy

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 11:16 am

I don't care how tight a budget is - there is simply no excuse for a camp not to have proper safety around water!

If the money is that tight - skip the pool and have sprinklers instead.

Otherwise - it's a huge responsibility and potential liability. Counsellors can assist with supervision, but don't replace qualified lifeguards.

Unless the children are very small and the water is quite shallow, it's dangerous for someone who is not a lifeguard to jump in after someone who is drowning. The person drowning is in a complete panic, so they have a surge of adrenaline, and their instinct is to grab onto a person and try to climb up. This means that even a smaller victim can push a rescuer under water, which is why you see so many tragedies where both victim and rescuer die. Lifeguards have special training to avoid this (we learned how to swim underwater from behind, grab the person around the waist, hoist them up and then swim them back - not something that you can do without special training).

Lifeguards are also trained in safe management of the facility, proper supervision, search techniques, and emergency response. Regular counsellors don't have that.

I know for a fact that my kids' camps have high standards, but you need to check. There was a tragedy several years ago at a Christian camp here, where a boy drowned in the lake and wasn't discovered for a while. There is no excuse for that at all - there should have been screening for swimming ability, a buddy system, roll call of the buddies, head count before leaving the lake, etc.

Chana Miriam S

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 11:26 am

I was a lifeguard, so yes, I agree that children should not swim unattended, either by a lifeguard or by a parent who is either a lifeguard or has been, or another adult who is such.

a number of years ago there was a 'frum' camp in my hood and they used a neighbours pool. I freaked when I found out that they had no lifeguard and went and volunteered there every swimming period.

adults should also remember that swimming alone with a baby, is swimming alone, something we should never do.

unless the kid is old enough to recognize an emergency and call 911 without doing anything stupid, like trying to save you when they are physically unable, you should consider yourself to be swimming alone. even if you are just 'wading' you should not be alone.

both of my kids are VERY strong swimmers, but neither of them are lifeguards yet, so until they are, they swim with me or someone else who is qualified.

one is bigger than me and one is almost bigger than me, but if we had a backyard pool, they would not be allowed out there without me or a friend who was already a lifeguard.

yeah, I know, I sound like a hard butt. I am. thus, it is pretty unlikely my kids will drown because they are unattended and no one knows what to do about it.

DefyGravity

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 11:32 am

madys wrote:

Yes in a backyard pool with an adult present that knows how to swim - also preferable to have another adult outside the pool incase of an emergency to call 911

Never at the beach

Keep in mind that knowing how to swim is only part of it - it's possible that knowledge of CPR will also come into play when watching children in a pool.

One might be able to jump into a pool and rescue someone, but what if they need resuscitation?

Chayalle

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 11:37 am

I live in a condo-complex and we have a shared pool with hired lifeguards. Lifeguards are not babysitters, and the pool rule is that children up to and including age 10 must come with a parent or babysitter who is watching the children. When I go with my 2-year-old I cannot be tanning or swimming, I need to watch her.

On July 4th of this year a relative of mine nearly drowned. The family had gotten together for a poolside BBQ and they hired a 17-year-old lifeguard. One of the sons-in-law, a man in his twenties, went under and the 17-year-old lifeguard got him out and saved his life. We don't know what happened, why he went under. This man was an experienced swimmer, and he does not remember what caused him to loose consciousness in the water.

Hatzoloh told the family that where they live it is actually a law that you must have a lifeguard when swimming in a full-sized pool.

Another suggestion - install a phone in your pool area. Cell phones can get wet or fail to pick up reception fast enough.

JRKmommy

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 12:15 pm

Sudden health issues - seizure, heart attacks, stroke, etc. - can cause even a strong swimmer to drown. So can a sudden injury, or getting caught in something. For someone prone to seizures, the light reflecting off the water can have the same effect as a strobe light, and trigger one.

I should add as well that teens need supervision as well, esp. if there is any possibility of alcohol or stupidity being involved. Aside from very young children, young men have the highest rates of drowning, and alcohol or risky behavior is often involved. For example, a young man may dive into water that is too shallow, and break his neck.

[BTW - I'm not into paranoid parenting. This, however, is a very real risk, and it's one of the most common causes of accidental death in children after motor vehicle accidents. Most people overestimate the risk of death due to sensational things like being murdered by a stranger, but totally underestimate the risks posed by water.]

anon

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 12:25 pm

I would take my kids to a backyard pool without a lifeguard, but this thread has made a good point that I (or anyone watching my kids) should be competent in CPR. I don't think many adults (including myself) consciously think about that.

But NEVER the ocean. The ocean can be extremely dangerous. Not only is it much harder to reach a person (there are big waves for crying out loud! and it's dark waters, as opposed to clear pool waters), but lifeguards will only be present in beaches that are safe. Some beaches are more dangerous than others, and how would a lay person know if it's safe to swim in?

For what it's worth, someone happened to mention to me recently that of all the beach drowning stories that she's heard of over the years (and unfortunately she's heard of many since she lives near beaches), she has never heard of an ocean drowning story when there was a lifeguard on duty. It was always when someone went swimming during off duty times or in places that people weren't supposed to swim in general. I'm sure there are also stories where ppl drowned with a lifeguard present, but there's no question that the percentages drop tremendously when there is a lifeguard.

OldYoung

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 12:34 pm

Barbara wrote:

OldYoung wrote:

JC wrote:

OldYoung wrote:

I don't understand. Who would help in case of an emergency? Why would someone let their kids swim without a lifeguard? What's the logic? (I was also a lifeguard, need to recertify... Confused

)

At hotel pools you dont ever have lifeguards, but the pools are usually small.

Well I suppose if you would have saved someone's two year old (whom she was supposedly watching) from a hotel pool, you would think twice about letting your kids swim there without a lifeguard.

Well, I suppose that if you'd saved someone's 3 year old, because the lifeguard's attention was elsewhere, you wouldn't put so much dependence on lifeguards.

No 3 year old should be in a pool without a parent or other responsible adult within arms' reach. There's simply no substitute for that. The issue isn't that there was no lifeguard; the issue was an inattentive parent.

Even *with* lifeguards, my rule was until about age 4, only with adult in arms' reach. After that, if child could swim, only with parent or other responsible adult at furthest at side of pool, in water in which child could easily stand. At age 8 or 9, adult could be further away, but watching. At 12, responsible adult needed to be nearby and available.

I'm not sure what point you were trying to make, but I just wanted to clarify that I *was* the lifeguard at the hotel pool. The kid's mom thought she had it under control, but obviously didn't.

Barbara

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 1:01 pm

OldYoung wrote:

Barbara wrote:

OldYoung wrote:

JC wrote:

OldYoung wrote:

I don't understand. Who would help in case of an emergency? Why would someone let their kids swim without a lifeguard? What's the logic? (I was also a lifeguard, need to recertify... Confused

)

At hotel pools you dont ever have lifeguards, but the pools are usually small.

Well I suppose if you would have saved someone's two year old (whom she was supposedly watching) from a hotel pool, you would think twice about letting your kids swim there without a lifeguard.

I'm not sure what point you were trying to make, but I just wanted to clarify that I *was* the lifeguard at the hotel pool. The kid's mom thought she had it under control, but obviously didn't.

My point is that if your young kids are being watched in a careful and responsible manner, you can safely allow them to swim without a lifeguard. People here seem to think that its not responsible for a parent to look after his or her own children at a pool without a lifeguard present. You made a pompous statement that because YOU rescued a child whose parent was being irresponsible, no one can safely and responsibly care for their own children at a pool. Its pompous and its wrong. A parent or other adult can safely supervise a small number of children in a pool, IF the parent is attentive. And I've done it. WITH lifeguards around.

Each year, about 1150 children drown in swimming pools. And about 350 drown in bathtubs.

Fear isn't the answer. Nor is putting kids in a bubble. Proper care IS the right thing.

Raisin

Mon, Jul 26 2010, 2:14 pm

JRKmommy wrote:

there are no sepearate swimming classes here for kids, so the only place my kids can learn is in a mixed class. So in the summer we rent a house with a pool and teach our kids to swim. Even if I had not taken a lifeguarding course we would still do this, since we think it is important to teach them to swim.