You love to swim. Your kids love to swim. But, you have this fear that that you do not want to pass onto your children? What is this fear? Could it be the fear of keeping your kids safe? So the question is how do you keep your kids safe near the water?
1 First and foremost kids need constant supervision. Constant supervision around pools, baths, ponds, beaches basically any body of water.
2 Pool fences are a requirement by law. Fences should be at least 1.5m in height, have a self closing child resistant gate, and have vertical bars no more than 100mm apart.
3 You must ensure that the gate is closed at all times. Do not prop it open at any time especially when the kids can see as they might get the same idea.
4 Make sure you put pot plants away from the pool gate as well as chairs as children can pull these up to the gate, stand on them and open the gate.
4 Flotation devices are fantastic. Make sure they meet Authority Standards. You must watch your child when they have a flotation device as they may flip upside down into the water.
5 It is important to teach your children the safety rules for around the pool: no running, no pushing and no diving in shallow water.
6 Buddy systems are great. Whenever possible, ensure that older children are paired up with a younger child to ensure their safety. Make it second nature to all children to always go into and near the water with someone else.
7 To avoid running inside to answer the phone and leaving the pool area unsupervised, keep a phone close at hand in the pool area.
8 If you love to entertain around the pool and you have your family and friends around for a BBQ, make sure that there is at least one adult on pool patrol. So everyone can enjoy themselves tag team with each other to ensure the pool area is supervised at all times.
9 Install an alarm on doors that lead to all pool areas.
10 Covers on pools are great to reduce water evaporation and to keep the pool clean, just make sure that the cover completely covers the pool and tightly. If you leave the pool cover partially open a child can become trapped underneath it. It is also important that no family member walks on the pool cover.
11 Learning CPR is vital. Your local St John Ambulance Centre runs half day CPR courses for about $50.00. Well worth the money and effort.
12 Most importantly I think you just need to use common sense and simply follow the above guidelines and ENJOY your family and swimming around the pool.
Nicole Scott specialises in creating natural products to protect the skin of swimmers young and old. Visit http://www.swimonlne.com.au to access more valuable information.
