Reply to When did you stop using life vests around water?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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. [b]At our local pool most parents are allowing their kids to wander unsupervised starting around age 6 assuming they’re generally competent swimmers.[/b] 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?[/quote]

So I'm the PP. I'd fall into your description I guess. If the kids are competent swimmers, meaning they can tread water and swim a couple laps without touching the ground or hanging on to the side of the wall, then they can swim in a community or municipal type pool (with rules, lifeguards, etc) "independently".  They don't need an attentive adult nearby, and they don't need the life jacket.

The life jacket is for when they *aren't* competent swimmers AND when you can't count on an attentive adult (in safe, known waters)

for even competent swimmers, in unknown or dangerous or unpredictable waters..

Your example of family swimming off the dock in a lake would be fairly predictable waters IMO.   If my kids were competent swimmers, they would be swimming in that lake as long as a responsible adult was around, or even some responsible teens.  But the key is that you know the kids are competent swimmers and could tread water/float/yell for help if they needed to for some reason.

If I had a non-swimming 4-year-old at your family's lake house, she would be wearing a life vest on the dock, especially if it was a social event and she wanted to run around with her cousins. If she's sitting on the side of the dock with me, and I *know* I am attentive and aware of her, she could take off her vest. But that's the most dangerous of all water situations. Child can't swim, social event, distracted parents each think the other one is watching the kid, and not a professional pool with life guards on duty and good lines of sight. This is the best situation for a life vest on non swimmers.[/quote]

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