At what age would you let a kid swim under these circumstances?

[Anonymous]

In a clear lake-8. 4 is too young and I'm surprised a 4 year could be 60 feet out and still able to stand. My daughter is an incredibly strong swimmer at 6 (she's on a year round competitive swim team) and I wouldn't let my 6 year old out in a lake alone (pool yes) but a lake where you can quickly lose visibility? I think 8 is fine but not 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yikes (@ 4).

This is significantly worse IMO than a situation I was nervous about the other day. Was at a small beach on the western coast of the Chesapeake and a very very little kid (if he was 2, I'd be surprised, but let's say a tiny/barely 2-year-old) was wading out into the bay with minimal supervision.

-he had on a puddle jumper (like more secure water wings)
-the water was only up to his chest and fairly calm
-he was about 15 feet from shore
-parent was about 30 feet away but not really watching most of the time
-wasn't right near a sibling/etc.

He was trying to engage me by throwing a plastic shovel to me so I'd catch it... IDK, seemed like a bad idea, even with a puddle jumper on.

A beach? Anything with an undertow could take that kid in a second!

[Anonymous]

4 is really young for this. Things go wrong in water fast. We were in a similar situation recently, with these parameters changed:

No additional kid to be watched
Adults in the water, though not in arm's reach of the child--probably a 20-30 second swim.
Most important: kid in PFD. (Not swimmies.)

And watching him from shore, it was still a little nerve-racking.

[Anonymous]

I was just in a similar situation, except that my younger one was swimming close to the shore and had on a life jacket, so I wasn't very worried about him. I didn't have on a swimming suit but had on shorts and a shirt that I could easily have gone into the water with. My older is 8 and wanted to go out to the deeper section, and I told him I wanted him to stay within the closer-in section. I did let him go across to the deep section for a short bit but only where he could touch, and I was watching closely.

My main concern was that I wouldn't be able to see him like I would in a pool if he went under.