Yeah, well no swim suit color is going to help you once you sink in the lake or ocean |
NP. I've only ever seen lifeguards wear red swimsuits. OP, it's easy enough to just get a swimsuit that is visible. Go to Target or Walmart-this is the reason kids swimsuits are bright with sometimes obnoxious patterns! |
This is true but I think we’re talking about a small risk and a very small benefit. I think the point at which you’re relying on a lifeguard to see your submerged kid at the bottom of the pool, I mean, we’re into impossibly rare scenarios.
Drowning deaths happen because kids are unattended near water, or swim in open water they are not ready for, not because they wear blue swimsuits. Focus on the big stuff. |
+1. I would also caution parents to watch their kids at the pool, even if a lifeguard is present. Well-run camps usually have their all their counselors watching the kids in addition to the lifeguard. |
It's amazingly easy to pick a swimsuit that is more visible than blue-every thing helps. |
+2 And I’m really intense about water safety. But that means that when my kids are in the pool, I (or my husband) am right there, even with a lifeguard present. They where whatever suit they want. |
It should not really matter what your young child wears at the pool or the ocean because you should always be watching them. The children who drown in pools, usually do so in backyard pools where they got in or fell in with no adults present. Focus on that. Your child wanting to wear a blue swimsuit should not matter if you are within arms length of them in the pool like you are supposed to be for a non swimmer. Don’t rely on an orange swimsuit and a puddle jumper to keep your 3 year old safe in a public pool. |
Sure, but that’s like saying “wearing a life vest on an airplane is easy. Perhaps you will die on impact but every little bit helps”. If that’s the extent you want to take things, sure, knock yourself out. The possible benefit is not something I’m going to stress myself over. My kids pick whatever suits they like and I supervise them without distraction in the pool. |
Oh hooray more click bait to remind mothers that they aren’t doing enough to keep their kids safe and that their kids will drown if they don’t pick the right color outfit.
This stuff is ridiculous. Please post the article about dry drowning next, where you’re instructed to take your kid immediately to the ER if they get water up their nose. |
+100 |
I disagree with this being fear mongering. I didnt know until seeing these images what the difference can be. It's not going to change too much of my life but I will pick the orange or red suit over the blue or green one now. It's just information. |
I'm looking back at pictures when my son was 3 and his favorite rash guard was royal blue. This was before the internet was telling us it was "bad".
He learned to swim that summer! With me right next to him every second he was at the pool. This is not the risk calculation you need. Be vigilant at your vacation house that has a pool out back. |
+1 I found posts about this to be really helpful the first time I saw them. |
These images are not real life. They are very controlled, and created in artificial environments. They exist to make parents click on articles about them, which in turn generates ad revenue. Children do not drown because they are wearing the wrong swimsuit. Children drown because they are unsupervised in water. Full stop. Notice how there are no articles saying that children with black hair, or dark skin, are less likely to drown than children with light skin and light hair? Even though light skin and hair will be less visible under the water? Because that “knowledge” won’t generate revenue or cause parents to purchase more swimsuits. |
In fact black children are far more likely to drown in public pools than white children despite being more easily seen under the water. Why is that???? Newsflash- because of inequities in knowing how to swim. It’s not about what color someone’s skin, or swimsuit, is under the water. If you can’t swim you can’t swim. Supervise. |