When did you stop using life vests around water?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a boat or dock - my kids will wear them as long as I have a say

This. My family has a place on a lake. It's very very deep but is so clear you can't tell. I've heard of adults who can swim jump in and try to get something from the bottom and drown on the way back up.

[Anonymous]

13 on a motorboat or dock. On a sailboat, for as long as I have a say. At the beach, around 7 (but I was always there when they were, and the lifejacket doesn't do much in the ocean). At the pool, we've never used any flotation devices. I didn't want to give them a false sense of security around water. We first did ISR, then regular swim lessons, and I've never let them near a pool without me until they were at least 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posts always baffle me because everyone here seems so cautious around water, but then in real life I rarely see kids over 5 in life jackets, including at the beach or a lake. At our local pool most parents are allowing their kids to wander unsupervised starting around age 6 assuming they’re generally competent swimmers. And at the lake my entire extended family lets the kids swim off the dock without life jackets starting around the same age.

Is this another case of DCUM is not real life? Or am I surrounded by people in the minority about water safety?

Of course this isn’t real life. No one in their right mind has kids in life jackets at the beach. Normal people don’t reply to these threads, just over-anxious parents that can use this as an opportunity for virtue-signaling.

DH is really anxious around water, so our little kids wore life jackets at the beach for some time. I always thought it silly, but I let him have that.

[Anonymous]

I have 5-year-old twins and we’ve done life jackets at the beach in the past. Kids move so damned fast, and if one suddenly got knocked off her feet while I was tending to the other, the jackets can buy a little time for me to grab her.

This year we might go without, but they’d have to stay knee deep or shallower unless one of us is literally holding their hands or we have them in our arms. They’re in swimming lessons but not strong swimmers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you put life jackets on your kids at the beach, or if on a dock, when did you stop? Was it at a certain age, or swimming milestones, or behavior milestones?

You always use lifejackets around creeks, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc. when boating. Especially if alcohol is involved, no exceptions there.

If one is swimming in a swimming pool, then obviously you don't.

[Anonymous]

I grew up on a river with a beach and my families rule was you wear a life jacket as soon as you arrive at the beach and you wear it at all times unless you’re sitting with an adult taking a break. We’ve adopted this basically for our own kids and do it at the pool and ocean too. It works because it’s busy, there’s a lot of other people, my kids impulsively run into the water before telling people, there are a lot of distractions for the parents and often alcohol. I know I’m never able to 100% watch all my kids. We only use real life jackets, which do require the kids to learn some actual skills rather than the puddle jumper that keeps them upright without much effort. I’m not sure when we’ll remove them, I think we’ll still wear them next summer at least for my oldest who is currently 4.5. I really like this because it’s given my kids independence to be able to walk down to the ocean by themselves and fill up a bucket, for my 4.5 to jump off the diving board, etc.

[Anonymous]

Beach- never. I stayed within arms reach until they were 7, and then they were allowed to be a little further away from me in the water. They are both club swimmers and by age 7, I knew they were swimming multiple laps in practice.

Boat - yes, until age 12 because that is the law in our state. And yes, life vests for every water activity on the lake, including kayaking, canoeing, wake boarding, paddle boarding, tubing, etc. When they turned 12, I got them the waist belt type life jackets, but they resist wearing them on boats. My teen son wears one when he fishes from his kayak on the local pond. The middle of the pond no more than 75 yds from the shore. He is a long distance swimmer who regularly swims the mile, so he rolls his eyes at me, but he will put it on.

Dock - we never hung out on a dock unless we were about to get in a boat

Even if your kid is an open water swimmer, a life jacket will save their life if they get hit on the head, injure a limb, or get a cramp. Or if they are trying to help someone else in the water who ends up pulling them under.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up on a river with a beach and my families rule was you wear a life jacket as soon as you arrive at the beach and you wear it at all times unless you’re sitting with an adult taking a break. We’ve adopted this basically for our own kids and do it at the pool and ocean too. It works because it’s busy, there’s a lot of other people, my kids impulsively run into the water before telling people, there are a lot of distractions for the parents and often alcohol. I know I’m never able to 100% watch all my kids. We only use real life jackets, which do require the kids to learn some actual skills rather than the puddle jumper that keeps them upright without much effort. I’m not sure when we’ll remove them, I think we’ll still wear them next summer at least for my oldest who is currently 4.5. I really like this because it’s given my kids independence to be able to walk down to the ocean by themselves and fill up a bucket, for my 4.5 to jump off the diving board, etc.

That’s the question - at what age to stop? Are the adults in your family also wearing life vests or is the rule just for kids? Will the rule be in place for 9 year olds who are swimmers? Non swimmers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is with the dock stuff? Are docks more dangerous than other open water? I'm not a lake person so haven't had this experience.

I did grow up going to lakes and never wore a vest, but it was the 80s.

Context is important. If your family is walking around the harbor and walks out to see the ducks, the parents are the “attentive adults”. You are right there, you will notice if your kids slips off (unlikely anyhow), and you can swim.

If your kids slips are uncle Billy’s lake house and everyone’s going to the dock to sunbathe including the older cousins? And uncle Billy says “me and Bobby will keep an eye on the kids!” But he’s supervising three non-swimmers? Realistically that’s not an attentive adult. So I’d either go with them and know that my job the whole time was awareness of all non swimmers… or.. put life vests on the non swimmers (but probably still go. I love uncle Bobby but he drinks !)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a boat or dock - my kids will wear them as long as I have a say

This. My family has a place on a lake. It's very very deep but is so clear you can't tell. I've heard of adults who can swim jump in and try to get something from the bottom and drown on the way back up.

And you believed that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is with the dock stuff? Are docks more dangerous than other open water? I'm not a lake person so haven't had this experience.

I did grow up going to lakes and never wore a vest, but it was the 80s.

OP here,

I feel like there is more than one type of dock.

I grew up going to visit my grandmother on a lake. She had a wooden dock behind her house, that went out maybe 10 feet into water that was maybe 6 feet deep. We could swim off it, or sit on it and fish, or stand on the end and throw a ball for our Labrador to swim for. She also had a canoe she'd launch from it, but that was the only boat that was ever there. The water was darker and murkier than the water in a pool, so maybe slightly more risky if a little kid fell in. I would make my 4 year old wear a life vest on the dock, and in the water unless I was 1:1 fully focused on him, and I was thinking of that kind of situation when I asked my original question.

There are also docks with lots of boats, and people getting on and off boats, and other riskier things, where it might make sense for a competent adult swimmer to wear a life vest, but not on my grandma's dock unless we were preparing to take the canoe out.

[Anonymous]

The water we typically swim off of from a dock is very murky-- can't see your feet when treading water. I keep my 9yo swimmer in a floaty vest type thing. My 6yo who is a very new swimmer is in a proper life vest. There's a mental component here too, the murky water can be intimidating even though it's very calm.

At the ocean beach we're mostly where the waves are crashing to shore. So like knee deep but kind of rough. I don't make dd wear anything there but I definitely see people wearing life vests - including my 6yo if we think we may actually want to go out beyond ankles or the water is particularly rough and I'm worried about him getting pulled out.

Nothing at a pool if we're watching the kids, but I'd want something on my son if it was a big social setting and we weren't watching him.

[Anonymous]

DC started swim team at five and were here around swimmers. No life vests at pool or lakes. They had life on in the ocean if I was there solo with the 3 kids- at least until 8. There were times, like at Hilton Head, where there’s no drop off and the surf is generally calm they never wore them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nonswimmers and new swimmers had to be within arm’s reach of an in-water parent.

Stronger, more confident swimmers had to have a parent with eyes on them, who was able to hop in if there was trouble.

Experienced swimmers of all ages needed to swim with a buddy, let an adult know they were going in the water, and report in on a regular basis.

In natural/murky water, we moved back a step. So even experienced swimmers needed someone actively watching them, and swimmers who were younger/less experienced needed someone actually in the water with them.

This is a good description of my philosophy,

I have 3 (9, 7, 5, only the 9yo is in the stronger swimmer category). I actually put my husband in that category too, I am the only experienced swimmer in the bunch and it is stressful because I feel like I'm the only one really capable of managing in a serious event. As a result I don't take them to choppy waters (go out one at a time with me in the ocean if we're at the beach). We stick to lakes (only 9YO out of a vest) and pools with lifeguards.

I feel I'm a little bit of a lunatic about water, but it can take in a moment.

[Anonymous]

Always on a boat or dock at any age from 1 to 100.