Swimming pools can be a source of opportunity for kids to learn about water safety and swimming skills and is also where family and friends gather and enjoy. Miserably, swimming pools can also be a source of danger, especially for kids.
As an adult, it is our responsibility to make sure that kids are safe around swimming pools. You can do it by keeping these crucial safety tips in mind.
Be Alert
Don’t leave your kids unattended at a spa or public swimming pool. It is vital to keep an eye constantly to ensuring the safety of your kids. Drowning can occur in an instant and normally happens if there’s no constant supervision. Do not multitask while your child is in the pool.
Practice Water Safety
Kids who don’t know how to swim are normally the ones in danger of drowning. Engage your children to learn how to swim and teach them about proper water and pool safety. A kid who doesn’t know how to swim must wear proper flotation devices before going into the swimming pool.
Install Pool Safety Covers of Fences
If you own a swimming pool, you must ensure that it has a fence with a self-latching gate, a minimum of four feet high and doesn’t have an easily accessible hand or foot holds. You may also want to make sure that there’s no furniture along the fence, which can be used to climb to. You can also cover your pool with a safety net or safety pool cover.
Know the Danger of Drain Entrapments
Drain entrapments can lead to limbs, clothes, jewelry and hair getting stuck in a defective drain. Don’t let your kid swim or play around suction outlets or drains, particularly in shallow pools and spas. Entrapments that are due to strong suction from the drain of a swimming pool or spa can trap a kid.
Make sure that spas and public swimming pools have proper drain covers. If covers of the drain are broken, flat or missing, avoid using the spa or pool.
Children’s public wading pools that are made for young kids and in-ground spas that have single main drain systems and drain flat grate can be a source of great risk for entrapment.
And make sure that life-saving gears like reaching poles and life rings are accessible for use in cases of emergency.
Learn CPR
Kids must be taught about basic water safety and let them practice. It is also great if the whole family learns how to swim. You can also let your family enroll in age-appropriate Red Cross water orientation and learn-to-swim courses so they can be safe when in and around water.
Know the basics of CPR and other skills that can help save lives. Enroll in first aid and CPR courses, and make sure to update your training by enrolling in other related programs.