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Pool safety - PLEASE



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Starhavah




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Jun 28 2008, 9:34 pm
Dear Fellow I'm A Mothers--

I hardly ever post things like this but I just have to post this.

As many of you know I work part-time as a swim teacher and a lifeguard at my local JCC. Thursday a friend of mine came up to me and asked what to do in a certain situation. I feel very stongly about the advice I gave her and I want you all to have the same advice. She was at the pool and not swimming because it was co-ed hours just sitting on the edge with her feet in. 2 mothers came out with older preschoolers (maybe 4-5 years old). They put life jackets on the kids and let the kids get in the pool ALONE (maybe they did this because it was co-ed hours). Even worse the life guard was playing a video game on his cell phone!! If you ever see a life guard playing a video game, reading, sleeping or in any other way not watching the water while there are people in the pool/lake/waterfront, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, report it. Even if your child or you know how to swim. If you do not report it those bad lifeguards will not get fired and you are making my job twice as hard. Not to mention endangfering lives every time that lifeguard is on duty.

Number two, the life guard is not a babysitter. If your child cannot swim, you need to be in the water. Wear clothes if you have to but a non-swimming child should never be out of arms reach of an adult, even when they are wearing a lifejacket. This goes a million times more if your child has a seziure disorder. Even if they never have had a sezure during the day, they need to be within arms length of you.

Number three, never, never, never swim alone. I do not swim alone and I am a lifeguard. I have no reason to believe I would ever drown in a pool, but I still never swim alone. There is always either someone watching me from shore or swimming with me.

Diabetics should test their blood sugar before any exercise including swimming. Be doubly careful that teenagers actually test rather than just say they tested.

Do not play breath holding games in the pool. People have been known to black out underwater from playing breath holding games. By the time the lifeguard realizes that you are not "just holding your breath" and that you are not going to come up on your own -- it might be C"S too late.

have fun in the water, but please be safe.

Star Havah
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red sea




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jun 29 2008, 8:16 am
Starhavah, ty for this post. I have a question, when do you think it is safe for a child to be in the pool without their parent in the water too? At what age & at what skill level?
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greenfire




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jun 29 2008, 8:48 am
by the way - even teens and adults drown ... sometimes in pairs ... ask my friends nieces who while one was drowning the other went to save her and they both drowned Crying Crying - if you see someone drowning call for help before you try to save them ...
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Starhavah




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jun 29 2008, 9:48 am
red sea wrote:
Starhavah, ty for this post. I have a question, when do you think it is safe for a child to be in the pool without their parent in the water too? At what age & at what skill level?


I think if a child can swim the width of the pool on their own without being winded they are at a skill level that the parents can sit on the side. If they are in a Red Cross swim program I would say htey have to be a reasonable level 4A (or level 4) swimmer to swim without a parent there. Most pools will not allow children in the pool without a parent unless the child is 7-9 years old. I believe that no child or adult should be allowed in the deep end unless they can pass there pool's deep end test, even if they are wearing a life jacket (this is a stricter rule than the JCC I work at, but in line with the YMCA in town). Remeber the shallow end is the equivelent of the deep end to many small children, I.e. they cannot reach the bottom of the pool, that is why I think they should have an adult with them. The adult can touch the bottom and walk out.

But I must emphasise that no one no matter how good a swimmer should ever swim alone (meaning that their is at least one other person in the swimming area).

Star havah
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Starhavah




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jun 29 2008, 9:53 am
greenfire wrote:
by the way - even teens and adults drown ... sometimes in pairs ... ask my friends nieces who while one was drowning the other went to save her and they both drowned Crying Crying - if you see someone drowning call for help before you try to save them ...


BDE-- Yes, absolutely. Unfortunately this is all too common a story in the aquatics world. The reason for the second person is NOT to swim out the person who is struggling in the water, it is so the second person can run for help. Even lifeguards are taught not to jump in the water to rescue someone unless that is the only way to get them. We always try to hand them something or throw them something and pull them in that way first. This goes double for a body of water with a current!

Star Havah
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Starhavah




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jun 29 2008, 10:00 am
red sea wrote:
Starhavah, ty for this post. I have a question, when do you think it is safe for a child to be in the pool without their parent in the water too? At what age & at what skill level?


I forgot to say that they should not be swimming ppast the place at which they can touch the bottom of the pool until they can past the deep end test. For most kids that means ages 5-9 depedning on the depth of the pool.

And no child or adult should ever be out of arms reach of another adult in a body of water with a current. Currents are tricky and even when you do not realize it they can drag you out to deeper water or down a beach.

Havah
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Barbara




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jun 29 2008, 10:09 am
Starhavah wrote:
red sea wrote:
Starhavah, ty for this post. I have a question, when do you think it is safe for a child to be in the pool without their parent in the water too? At what age & at what skill level?


I forgot to say that they should not be swimming ppast the place at which they can touch the bottom of the pool until they can past the deep end test. For most kids that means ages 5-9 depedning on the depth of the pool.

And no child or adult should ever be out of arms reach of another adult in a body of water with a current. Currents are tricky and even when you do not realize it they can drag you out to deeper water or down a beach.

Havah


Thank you, Havah, for your excellent advice.

I'm just curious as to what age you would allow children to go to the pool alone, without a responsible adult (meaning a parent or sitter) in the pool area. DS(11) is a strong swimmer who has been able to pass the deep water test for at least 6 years by now. Our pool does not permit him to go to the pool without a responsible adult, even though there are lifeguards. I support this rule, BTW; lifeguards are for emergencies, not for general supervision of pool safety. I *do* find that I often have to speak to him and his friends at the pool (eg, to tell them to move their play away from the shallow end, so that the younger kids who cannot go further out can enjoy themselves as well.) Other pools in our area do permit kids that age to come alone, and I'm getting some pressure to allow DS to go to other pools with his friends.
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