What's inconvenient for you is that we don't use puddle jumpers and I still think you're an idiot. |
This. It's almost always a child under 3 who went into the pool alone. Recently a friend's child drove a little motorized car into the pool when the nanny wasn't looking and drowned. It's not because kids are wearing puddle jumpers while their parents are an arm's reach away that is the big risk. People shrieking in here about it have no clue what they are talking about. |
You have shockingly bad reading comprehension. No s*** Sherlock, kids drown in pools without parental supervision. And kids feel comfortable going in without a parent because parents (many here) are idiots and are setting their kids up for that horrific scenario. |
This is so dumb. We're talking about toddlers here. There is no logic. You can avoid ever using a puddle jumper and if your kid is left unattended with access to a pool, they may "feel comfortable" going in the pool without their parents because they are 2 or 3 and their brains are not yet capable of understanding the consequences of that action. Or they don't mean to go in but fall because they have undeveloped motor skills. Kids are not spending time in puddle jumpers and then thinking "oh cool I guess I float in water, I will jump in it all the time now." And EVEN IF they did, if you just make sure your kid never has access to water without you present until they can swim (which is not that hard), it doesn't matter. Kids drown because parents aren't watching them. Or the parents are drinking. Puddle jumpers are really not the bogeyman here. |
There's no data to support the notion that drownings primarily occur among kids that typically use puddle jumpers. |
DP who grew up in FL. There is a difference between trusting a 2 year old around water and deciding not to use floaties. I have never used them with any of my 3 kids because I wanted them to know what their bodies actually feel like in water. Kids wearing floaties get comfortable with a straight up and down position, which is a recipe for sinking right to the bottom of the pool. But even still, I always kept an eye on them around water when they were young. If anything, I think the floaties give parents a false sense of security. Not to mention a lot of drownings happen when no one else is in the pool (meaning the child slipped out during nap time or while the parent thought thu were playing indoors), so these are not times the child would be in any sort of floatation device. Overall, I just don’t see the point of them. The only device we use is a coast guard certified life jacket while on boats or when my kids were small and playing near the shoreline at the beach. |
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My three year old doesn’t swim very often. We don’t have a pool. We’ve done swim lessons, but they haven’t achieved anything because they’re not frequent enough, she hates/is afraid of putting her head under and we didn’t force the issue (like the style of swim lessons for babies who live with a pool).
The puddle jumper is irrelevant, imo. My kid can’t swim. We’re not practicing real swimming at this point. If her feet can’t touch, it’s just a question of whether she’s holding me to float or the floatie, or noodle or whatever. Once she’s old enough/motivated enough to be actually learning to swim, maybe we will need to be more strict about not having a float tool when practicing. But I think you’re all way overestimating the impact. |
Many 3 year olds, especially the ones belonging to the lazy parents here, are not supervised every single second. Why not give them the best possible chance? Because - mom wants to be able to sit in her pool chair and not in the pool. |
For me the point was that when I took my kid to the pool at 2/3, I would get tired of always holding her in the water and want a break. Sometimes Wes take that break by going into the kiddie pool or the very shallow end in a zero-entry pool, but sometimes I'd put her in a puddle jumper. Also we did work on some swim skills in the puddle jumper. Unlike a regular life vest, it actually is possible for a kid their legs up behind them in the puddle jumper, so we'd practice kicks in it sometimes, just like you would with holding onto the edge of the pool or a kickboard, but more secure because it was attached to her. Obviously we took it off to practice floating on her back and putting her face in the water. By the time she was ready to kick off the wall we were done with it. But it was really useful for that in between time to just give me a break during pool trips. Especially as she got older and was super active-- holding onto an almost 4 year old who wants to kick and play in the water but is not yet ready to swim independently is tiring. |
You keep saying this and yet 100% of the accidental drowning I read about involve kids who got access to a pool without their parents knowing. I am unaware of a single child drowning WHILE wearing a life vest, and also I don't personally know anyone who would allow a kid in the pool with a life vest so they could sit under an umbrella somewhere else. |
Where is Dad in this scenario? Or are only moms lazy? |
Considering that it easily proved you incorrect... |
Go to any community or private club pool in the DMV this summer during the daytime and stay at least 15 minutes. You will see someone clip a puddle jumper on a kid a let them into the pool without an adult. |
Uh, no. This is explicitly not allowed at either our public school or our private club. Public pool requires an adult to be with any kid wearing a flotation. Private club only allows flotation devices in shallow end and also requires parental supervision-- kids are required to pass a swimming test in order to swim in areas that don't require parental supervision. |
And? What happened last summer? |