The return of summer weather means it’s time for family pool days. However, it’s important to be thinking of pool safety.
Nothing can replace supervision when kids are in the water. Young children should always be under adult supervision, and older children should swim with a partner. Enrolling children in beginner swimming lessons is a great way to make them more comfortable in the water.
Children should be able to tread water for one minute, find a safe exit, swim 25 yards, and be able to exit without using a ladder before they are considered a proficient swimmer. Emergency skills like basic water rescue skills and CPR are crucial to help a drowning child.
When considering pool safety for kids, one of the biggest risks for children and adolescents is diving. Diving can result in serious, life-threatening injuries. Divers who hit the side or bottom of a swimming pool can suffer from quadriplegia, otherwise known as being paralyzed below the neck. More than 40 percent of spinal injuries caused by diving occur in backyard pools so it’s important to know the proper pool safety precautions.
Before diving, make sure that the water’s depth is more than twice your height. It’s a simple task, and you’ll be glad you took the time to check instead of risking a diving board injury. Follow these diving tips and stay safe this summer.
Diving Safety Tips:
1. Wait until other swimmers leave the diving area
2. Only one person should be on a diving board at a time
3. Never dive into the shallow end of a pool
4. Keep the diving area clear of pool equipment and toys
5. Only dive off of the end of the diving board, don’t dive off of the side.
6. Do not try running dives, bounce only once on the board.
7. Don’t hang off of the board
8. Enroll in a diving class to learn how to safely dive
9. Don’t try to dive through toys
10. Never dive head-first down a slide