Reply to Puddle jumper for 25lb 3-year-old

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have no dog in this fight as we never bought a puddle jumper (ironically more so out of cheapness/laziness) but it seems the "documented dangers" are anecdotal? I mean those stories are terrifying but don't kids who have never had puddle jumpers also drown? How do we know it's the puddle jumper at fault and not the lack of supervision?[/quote]

Yes. Reading along here and thinking about it-where I live unfortunately drownings happen due to the large amount of home pools (FL). In news coverage, it's always the child going out the door unnoticed to the pool area, pool gate left open, distracted adults at a party not watching, ect. [b]Small children unfortunately are attracted to water whether they've ever worn a puddle jumper or not. [/b]The issue is an unsecured home pool.

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Very telling that you think this is true. No, this is the result of puddle jumpers and other flotation devices that kids get used to and think they love and are more secure in water than they should. A kid who never uses a flotation device is welllll aware of their limitations.

-swim instructor[/quote]

You think a 2 year old who has never used a flotation device is 'well aware of their limitations' around water??? That is literally a drowning waiting to happen! Please tell me you are not serious.[/quote]

Tell me you’ve never been around a large number of toddlers learning to swim without telling me. If a parent is responsibly teaching their child how to be around water (should start at 6 months) without the use of flotation devices, yes a neurotypical 2 year old 1000% knows their limitations. Drowning prevention isn’t a one and done lesson, it’s taught over years with many building blocks. Flotation devices just knock that down. ISR is proven to be one of the biggest ways to prevent drownings (up there with pool gates) and it’s telling that their *global policy* is no flotation devices for kids ever unless in an open body of water. [/quote]

Look I've taught gymnastics and tumbling to kids for years and 2 year olds don't know anything. They are 95% instinct and experimentation. Some kids have more natural caution than others but this is driven by instinct and is not a learned skill. Meanwhile plenty of "neurotypical" (please note that at 2 or 3 it's actually pretty hard to distinguish ND from NT unless a kid has a very clear and specific autism presentations -- many behaviors that will become signs of autism in older kids are developmentally normal for all 2 and 3 year olds) 2 year olds exercise surprisingly little caution even when given repeated and clear instructions about safety.

This is why "parent and child" classes are common for kids below preschool age, because having a 1:1 adult to child ratio is safest for very young children who essentially have no judgment.

If ISR was a resource that was universally available to everyone, I might agree that we should all follow their recommendations. But of course it's not and most people have to get their kids to swim using other methods that take much longer. Also, in addition to their no-flotation rule, ISR also requires a 1:1 teacher to student ratio. Because until a kid actually demonstrates the ability to self rescue consistently you need an adult within arms reach. And actually even after a kid has shown the ability to self rescue they will tell you over and over that you still must closely supervise all young children in the water. The deal with ISR is that it's teaching a skill that ideally your child will never have to use.

So here's the deal. If you care about this issue please find a way to get families universal access to ISR swim training for all kids by 12 months of age. If you can't figure that one out you need to accept that parents will rely on flotation devices and other methods for keeping their kids safe in the water (including making sure their kid never has the ability to access a pool or other body of water unattended until they can properly swim). [/quote]

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