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 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 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?

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.