Not DC but--there is a man-made swimming pond where I live, it's a state park. Closed this year, also last year as it's getting harder to find lifeguards for summer jobs. They had 2 kids drown in recent years. In one case the child was with a large group chaperoned by a community agency and a law enforcement group for an outing. After the second drowning they changed the rules: if a child is 8 or younger, parents have to be in the pond with them. From 9 to 12? maybe even older-- they have to be seated on the sand (sand beach extends maybe 15 feet) and NOT reading, NOT looking at their phone. The announcement is made every hour.

Off topic--the child with the group was born in Liberia. A few years earlier there was a 16 year old boy from an African country who drowned in a h.s. pool during swimming class. That spurred a lot of discussion about kids, particularly kids of color and especially immigrant kids, who have not had the level of exposure to water white kids have often had-- including low income white kids, since there is a pretty robust program to get them free swim passes for city pools in the summer.

I do read now. He is seven and a strong swimmer. He’s also risk-averse and very compliant. Generally he just likes to swim laps. So what I do is watch him as he pushes off glance up once when he’s halfway across the pool read a little bit more and then glance up again as he hits the end of the pool because he always turns around to look at me for affirmation. I don’t believe he could drown in between each of those things because I’m looking up at least every 15 seconds. It still feels incredibly relaxing compared to the kind of vigilance I had to have a couple of years ago. I didn’t learn to swim until I was 12 and so it was a big priority to make sure that my child could swim. He had that at four, but it wasn’t until he was on the swim team at six and could swim laps that I felt more comfortable cracking open a book by the side of the pool. Like others, though, I would still be watching 100% of the time if the pool was crowded

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, 9 and 12. I look up regularly.

Wow. But I bet you make them wear masks.

?

No, never. My kids are 3 and 6 and I always swim with them.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, 9 and 12. I look up regularly.

Wow. But I bet you make them wear masks.

Yes, if the pool is empty and has a lifeguard. She's an excellent swimmer and I normally sit where she yells to me anyway. Would not read at the beach or a bisy pool.

Never. I'm glad the life guards are there, but I am not trusting them with my kids' (4 and 6) lives. These days, we are lake swimming with no life guard, so I am keeping them in arms reach with no book/phone/distractions. I've made two rescues so far this summer.

No, my kids are 3 and 5 though and still taking swim lessons. I don’t know when/if there will come a point I’m relaxed enough to read while they’re in the water. At least I can’t imagine it right now. But I’m really paranoid about them near water. We won’t even leave our little baby pool full of water if no one is outside (like if we all come in for afternoon quiet time) b/c I’m terrified of one of them sneaking out our back door and us not realizing it. Or a neighbor kid hopping out fence. And it’s only a few inches of water!

No, because I have a four year old who can't swim independently. My eight year old is a strong swimmer and the six year old is pretty good, too, but still a little young.

If it were just the oldest, I might.

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't it just this week that Naya Rivera's body was found? A mom who took her son out and then ended up drowning herself because she wasn't wearing a life jacket? Swimming is so dangerous, and people keep forgetting this.

She was swimming in a lake with currents, hidden vegetative debris and icy cold spots, no lifeguard in sight, no life vest, without a fellow adult swimmer. Completely different scenario.