River tubing with young kids?
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Anonymous
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My spouse wants to take our kids (5 and 8) river tubing at one of the popular spots in WV. My spouse is home with the kids for the summer and it would just be the 3 of them while I work. I haven't been river tubing in 20 years so I don't have a good gauge, but this seems dangerous to me even though they would all wear life jackets. I don't like the 1 adult:2 children ratio.
To those who have more experience river tubing, have you/would you take two kids on your own? |
Anonymous
| If your spouse is a man I would let him go, if it’s a woman I would not unless they’re off the charts strong and a great swimmer. If the kids were much older it would be different. Tell the man to take rope to tie together. |
Anonymous
| This is so dumb. Kids that age will be so bored and so hot. And the water will be warm and full of sketchy bugs |
Anonymous
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If it was flat water, that wouldn’t bother me, assuming that both kids are decent swimmers and tend to listen to their dad. However, if it’s one of the tubing trips that have a bit of rapids section (and many of the Harpers Ferry trips do have rapids), then I think that 5 and 8 are too young, especially for just one parent.
However, this might be a moot point. Just took a look at one of the websites, and it looks like some of the outfitters won’t take kids under 10 (or 5’ tall) on the whitewater trips. |
Anonymous
| Make sure the kids wear life jackets. They usually have ropes so you can tie the tubes together at least until everyone gets their bearings. |
Anonymous
| Just posted above about flat water vs whitewater. Also agree with the suggestion to bring a rope. I might let the 8 yo float free (I did at that age), but even on flat water, I’d want to have the 5yo’s tube connected to mine. |
Anonymous
| No, but mostly because I did a lot of tubing in my 20s, and I know most tubers are rowdy, drunk/high teens and 20-somethings. Too risky. |
Anonymous
| What river? There are lots of rivers that would be totally safe, and many that wouldn’t. |
Anonymous
| Because I've seen it happen, what would your husband do if one of them fell into the water? Is he strong enough and a skilled enpugh swimmer to get children to safety? |
Anonymous
Float free? And if something happened, who retrieves him? |
Anonymous
| Tubing as in inner tube? Most places have a minimum age of 6. And no way would I want to do that 1 adult= 2 kids. I’m a strong swimmer, but too much of a chance for one to drift farther. We do a tubing trip with friends every summer and the younger kids are 1:1 with an adult. |
Anonymous
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My kids are the same age, and both are great swimmers, and I wouldn’t do this. Mainly because I think they’d be bored. And if the water moves fast enough they ARENT bored, it’s not safe.
Just wait until they are a bit older and bigger. Like 8 and 11. |
Anonymous
| Watermelon park has tubing that is easy and great for little kids. Slow moving water, mostly shallow. |
Anonymous
| I agree they might be bored. We took our kids tubing a few years ago when they were maybe 9 and 11, and we had really talked it up because we remembered it being so fun (in college, ha) They were so disappointed at how slow and boring it was. |
Anonymous
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Harper's Ferry? Tubing in WV is basically a floating frat party. It's a bunch of 20-somethings floating down the river getting drunk. Like, drinking a fifth of vodka straight out of the bottle kind of drunk.
In other words, it's not a family-friendly environment. |