Rules for going to the pool?

[Anonymous]

Does your nanny take your children to the pool in the summer? If so, what rules have you established with them for you to feel comfortable with the arrangement?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Yet, my nanny takes my kids to the pool. We are members of a tennis club that has 2 large pools. My nanny is lifeguard certified, so that makes a difference for me. She is of course CPR certified as well. I have never has to worry about her or set any rules, I know my kids are in good hands. I would definitely want to be sure that the nanny was a very strong swimmer though...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your nanny take your children to the pool in the summer? If so, what rules have you established with them for you to feel comfortable with the arrangement?

Thanks!

About how old are your kids and the nanny? That makes a huge difference. Do they all like to swim?

[Anonymous]

I am a nanny and I take my charges swimming. They are 2 and 5. I am a past swim instructor and had references from my director at the pool I worked at, so I am sure that helped my MB feel better. I know the pool is a stressful place if a nanny is not prepared to handle the children in water safely or if the kids are not strong swimmers. We spend time in the pool a couple times a week and I do "swim lessons" with my charges. The 5 year old is now swimming very well on her own.
Make sure your nanny is a good swimmer and CPR certified. If you trust your nanny has good safety judgement and is comfortable at the pool, then it could be a great time for your kids. How old are your children? Can they swim?

[Anonymous]

I'm a nanny and I take the kids to the pool. We don't have any special rules? I obviously enforce rules like no running, no rough housing, buddy systems, calls and responses, etc. but the parents haven't imposed any rules on me. They trust me to show good judgment in keeping the kids safe in and around the water.

[Anonymous]

My any takes my children in our pool. (We have an in-ground pool in the yard) I trust her to ensure my kids safety so I have not put any rules in place. She is a great nanny and I know she has her own rules for the kids by the water. Some may be different than my rules in the pool, but I know the kids are safe. I leave those decisions up to my nanny. When she is on duty, she is in charge for rules for the kids. She has been with us for 4 years and the kids respect her completely. It works well for our family.

[Anonymous]

OP here: My child is 2, the nanny is late 20s. I know she likes the water, but don't know how strong a swimmer she is. The pool they would go to has a "beach entrance" or whatever its called where the kids can sit in an inch of water and it gradually gets deeper. I don't imagine they'd do much more than splash and play in the shallow end. I do very much trust my nanny, but just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something obvious.

Thanks for the thoughts, much appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: My child is 2, the nanny is late 20s. I know she likes the water, but don't know how strong a swimmer she is. The pool they would go to has a "beach entrance" or whatever its called where the kids can sit in an inch of water and it gradually gets deeper. I don't imagine they'd do much more than splash and play in the shallow end. I do very much trust my nanny, but just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something obvious.

Thanks for the thoughts, much appreciated!

I think it's great to have your little one get used to the water! I would ask your nanny about her swimming abilities. As long as your trust her judgement, I would say it sounds like a great activity for your little one.

[Anonymous]

It wouldn't be out of line to request that they stay in the shallow end of the pool.

[Anonymous]

OP here: My child is 2, the nanny is late 20s. I know she likes the water, but don't know how strong a swimmer she is. The pool they would go to has a "beach entrance" or whatever its called where the kids can sit in an inch of water and it gradually gets deeper. I don't imagine they'd do much more than splash and play in the shallow end. I do very much trust my nanny, but just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something obvious.

I would pay for her to take a water safety class. They may offer courses that are not the full lifeguard certification course through your local recreation center. I would completely trust a nanny who had lifeguard experience because they tend to be pretty aware of what can happen when kids are not supervised.

At a pool its less about how strong a swimmer your nanny is and more about how much she understands what drowning actually looks like and how fast it can happen. Lifeguards know all too well that many parents and caregivers just do not understand this and assume since the lifeguard is there their kid will not drown. They also miss the signs expecting to see a child struggling and splashing. Drowning is silent, they just slip into the water.

1. The nanny stays in the water with the children. She is not to supervise them from the chair. This is the biggest one and where most accidents happen.
2. Non-swimming kids stay where the water is not over their heads or if they are toddlers she hold them.
3. If she is watching 2 kids and 1 kid has to go to the bathroom she takes both kids with her. She shouldn't leave a non-swimming child unsupervised on the deck area.

[Anonymous]

My DD is five, and swims already. Our nanny is CPR certified, although not lifeguard certified. She is, however, a strong swimmer and is comfortable taking DD to the pool. I trust her and support any rules she needs to make to feel like she is ensuring safety for my DD. I don't make the rules because I'm not there and she is the one who needs to be comfortable with DD at the pool.

This works well for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is five, and swims already. Our nanny is CPR certified, although not lifeguard certified. She is, however, a strong swimmer and is comfortable taking DD to the pool. I trust her and support any rules she needs to make to feel like she is ensuring safety for my DD. I don't make the rules because I'm not there and she is the one who needs to be comfortable with DD at the pool.

This works well for us.

+Same for our family. I have a 3 yr old and a 5 yr old. My 5 yr old DD swims but not the 3yr old. I trust the nanny to make the rules for the pool. She is very comfortable with kids in the water and has been with previous charges in the pool. I was sure to ask about this widen I got references. She is also CPR certified. I trust her judgement completely.

[Anonymous]

My DS is two, and our nanny takes him to the pool. We belong to a pool that has a separate toddler pool, so my only rule is that right now, they stay in the kiddie pool area, which is fenced or the fenced adjoining playground. If it had the beach entry, I'd probably request they stay on the shallow end, and that my nanny get him out of the pool if there is any reason she needs to not be watching the entire time (call, text, bathroom break, lunch prep if they are having lunch there) - that way there would be virtually no chance of the kiddo wandering into deeper water in search of a toy or following older kids when she isn't looking. To be fair, I would trust my nanny to figure this out herself, but would remind her the day they went for the first time just to keep her extra vigilant. I agree with the PP that would require the nanny to stay in the pool with the child. With separate kiddie pool, we don't require it, but in big pool, I would definitely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP here: My child is 2, the nanny is late 20s. I know she likes the water, but don't know how strong a swimmer she is. The pool they would go to has a "beach entrance" or whatever its called where the kids can sit in an inch of water and it gradually gets deeper. I don't imagine they'd do much more than splash and play in the shallow end. I do very much trust my nanny, but just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something obvious.

I would pay for her to take a water safety class. They may offer courses that are not the full lifeguard certification course through your local recreation center. I would completely trust a nanny who had lifeguard experience because they tend to be pretty aware of what can happen when kids are not supervised.

At a pool its less about how strong a swimmer your nanny is and more about how much she understands what drowning actually looks like and how fast it can happen. Lifeguards know all too well that many parents and caregivers just do not understand this and assume since the lifeguard is there their kid will not drown. They also miss the signs expecting to see a child struggling and splashing. Drowning is silent, they just slip into the water.

1. The nanny stays in the water with the children. She is not to supervise them from the chair. This is the biggest one and where most accidents happen.
2. Non-swimming kids stay where the water is not over their heads or if they are toddlers she hold them.
3. If she is watching 2 kids and 1 kid has to go to the bathroom she takes both kids with her. She shouldn't leave a non-swimming child unsupervised on the deck area.

Although I have never had to "set rules" for our nanny, I know these are the rules my nanny enforces with the kids while she is at the pool with them. I did ask my nanny what her rules are for pool time before she brought my DS and DD to the pool for the first time, especially since the younger one is a non swimmer. I would like to hope these would be common sense rules with all good nannies, but unfortunately you can never be too careful, so discussing is a good thing. that said, any other rules the nanny may have should be up to her as ultimately she needs to be in control in and around the water.

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I'm a nanny to 3 kids, ages 2,3 and 6. We just talked about me taking them to the kiddie pools and such, and my MB said although she trusts me, she wants to hire a 'mother's helper'-type person as an extra set of hands for me. I understand her hesitancy, but it's still somewhat frustrating b/c I'm not sure exactly when this person will be available to help and if it will work out with the times we'd like to go, etc. (plus I feel really confident in taking/swimming with them). I've taken 1-2 of the kids before when oldest was in school, so it's really the fact that I would have 3 to watch at one time that makes her nervous. MB is also a pediatric doctor, so she has seen horror cases of kids drowning and thus, is extra nervous about it!

If you trust your nanny, OP, and you only have one child she'd be taking, I think you should be fine to have her go. Do what makes you comfortable though!