Do you read while your kids swim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about ages 6 and 4, but good swimmers?

HELL NO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about ages 6 and 4, but good swimmers?

I listen to audiobooks or podcasts with one earbud.

[Anonymous]

No. DS is 7 and a good swimmer. Has passed all the tests since he was 6 and all that. If he is in the shallow at in a clearly defined pool then I will sometimes do quick glances at a magazine or something. But I'm not really reading because I'm constantly looking up.

If he's at the beach, deep end, or poool without a clearly defined shallow and deep end, then no. It's.not so much that I don't trust DS but that I worry about other people. Last year a kid wasn't looking and jumped right on him. Thankfully I was in the pool with him because he was really shaken up by that. About a month ago we were at a friend's pool and a bee flew into the pool. DS' friend is terrified of them and clung to DS. Except they were in the deep end so I had to jump in and separate them as they were basically drowning each other by accident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say if there is a competent lifeguard and your child is at least 8 and a good swimmer (like on the swim team) you are probably ok reading with lookups.

Look ups might seem reassuring but they won’t help from a safety perspective. They do help with behavior but you would have to look up at just the right second to help a drowning swimmer.

Just this week I rescued a drowning kid from my pool while I was chatting with the mom. She was in the pool staring at him and didn’t know her kid was dying. I kept my cool and didn’t make a big deal (and the lifeguard might have come if it had gone on longer) but drowning is scary and happens silently and quickly.

[Anonymous]

Yes. But my 12 year old is a competitive swimmer and we have lived at the pool for the last 8 summers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about ages 6 and 4, but good swimmers?

I listen to audiobooks or podcasts with one earbud.

Yes. When my son was young this is what I did. Eyes on him the whole time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Drowning is silent and takes 60 seconds.

My kids are 7, 5, and 2 but I will do this for life. I was a lifeguard and I know how quickly even good swimmers can get in trouble and how lazy some lifeguards are.

Like, when they're 40 and you're 75?

[Anonymous]

Unless the child can swim with confidence in deep water, they should be watched closely. Not a lifeguard, but while swimming I've helped struggling children in a couple cases when their parents/guardians weren't watching. In one, an 8 or 9-year-old boy had been playing on the steps leading to the pool and suddenly was in deeper water and floating to the bottom. The dad had been reading in his deck chair and was oblivious. In another, a young guest (11 or so?) of the pool member was on a pool noodle in a crowded pool. She fell off in deep water and panicked. She may not have wanted to let the host family know that she wasn't a confident swimmer. Lifeguards do their job, but they can't see everything.

[Anonymous]

No. My H is a death investigators and has been on too many calls where parents are reading and kids drown.

Even now that they are 18 and 20... no swimming alone. I don't watch them but they are not allowed to swim alone, but it's not really an issue nobody wants to swim alone. Also they do flips off the board, etc.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the situation - crowded pool (with or without lifeguards) I’m watching our 7 year old. Our friends’ pool where I can hear her playing with her friends (and I tell the kids to watch out for their buddies) I chat with my friend and glance regularly in the direction of the kids. I was in the water with the kids when my DD was trying to get on a floaty at the same time as one of her friends and somehow she kind of pushed it over his head. She and I both saw what was happening and I grabbed him and pulled him up. I would have heard her yelling (and he seemed okay) but obviously would have taken longer had I not been there so that was a good reminder. I do worry a bit about pools where each adult is “watching” so try to be aware of actually watching and trading off.

[Anonymous]

Never. I'm either in the water with them, or I'm watching them. They're 9 and 6, but agree with the poster who said that drowning can happen at anytime. It's the worry I always have when I send them to camp where there's a swimming component, but I have to trust that the camp will do its job because it knows that parents aren't there.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't it just this week that Naya Rivera's body was found? A mom who took her son out and then ended up drowning herself because she wasn't wearing a life jacket? Swimming is so dangerous, and people keep forgetting this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say if there is a competent lifeguard and your child is at least 8 and a good swimmer (like on the swim team) you are probably ok reading with lookups.

Look ups might seem reassuring but they won’t help from a safety perspective. They do help with behavior but you would have to look up at just the right second to help a drowning swimmer.

Just this week I rescued a drowning kid from my pool while I was chatting with the mom. She was in the pool staring at him and didn’t know her kid was dying. I kept my cool and didn’t make a big deal (and the lifeguard might have come if it had gone on longer) but drowning is scary and happens silently and quickly.

+1

My kid was in the pool last year, and I was sitting on the edge, about six feet away. She went under, and didn't make a sound. Her head tilted back, her arms went out, and it was 100 percent silent. There were three adults standing within arms' reach of her who didn't notice a thing. I hopped in immediately and grabbed her, and no harm done, but it really is incredible how quickly and quietly it happens. I do not read when she's in the water, unless another adult is on designated kid-watching duty. Some adult should have eyes on the kids at all times, and a lifeguard at a busy pool doesn't count.

[Anonymous]

our backyard pool yes (10 feet diameter and 30"h). On "real" pools, no way... for my youngest (6) who is still not a strong swimmer. My older one (10) is fine on pools and doesn't need my constant oversight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about ages 6 and 4, but good swimmers?

Are you kidding?