Swimming Pools: Important Water Safety Tips

: Photo by soylentgreen23

Does the heat of this summer have you dreaming of being in a swimming pool, relaxing on that cool floaty chair, with a glass of sweaty iced tea in the cup holding? It sure does me. If there was such as thing as reincarnation, I’d swear I was a fish. I love the water! Diving off of a long, white bouncy board is my ideal of wonderful summer fun….pike dives, back dives, cannonballs, front flips…you name it, I’d love to do it. Water just gives me a wonderful feeling of freedom that cannot be found anywhere else.

I have been swimming since I was a teeny little girl. My mom, who can not swim at all, put me in swimming lessons in the hopes of me learning what she never did. And it worked! Now, I hope to pass down my love of swimming to Jack-Evan. Before he even turned two months old, he had already been swimming - and seemed to enjoy every second of it.

Whether you have a large in-ground or above ground pool, or simply a small inflatable swimming pool, splashing around in the cooling water is definately a relief on those hot summer days. But there are some precautions you should take to ensure that the time you and your family spend in and around the swimming pool are safe as well as fun. This is especially important if you have children under the age of 5 who aren’t quite that capable of understanding the dangers inherant around water.
Do you have a swimming pool in your backyard? Even if you don’t, you need to know about swimming pool safety, especially if you have kids. There are so many ways that something bad can happen in and around a pool if you don’t know pool safety. You should make it a point to learn all you can about being safe around a pool to make sure nothing happens to anyone in your home.

Here are some swimming pool safety tips everyone should follow:

1. Use the Adult / Child Buddy system. Make sure your children know that they are to never go near water without an adult present. And make sure all adults in your home know to never leave kids around pools unsupervised. If you do run into trouble, knowing CPR will go far in helping save someone’s life. Learnin CPR is as easy as contacting your local community college or Redcross chapter and signing up for a CPR course.

2. No Fence, No Pool. When you have an underground pool you should have a fence around it with a gate that will lock. This will help keep kids out if an adult can’t be there to supervise. Many cities around the country will not even allow inground pools without a fence. Also, homeowners insurance may not be attainable if your pool doesn’t have a fence.

3. Equipt your pool with an alarm. It is always a good idea, even when you have a fence, to add an alarm as well. This will tell you when someone has gone through the gate and alert you to a possibly dangerous situation. That way, if you have kids and the alarm sounds, you can be there in a hurry to stop anything from happening.

4. No Alcohol Allowed. This is one of the swimming pool safety rules that a lot of adults don’t think about, especially if there are no kids around. Alcohol can severely alter a person’s perception. This is not only dangerous for the person who has consumed the alcohol, but also for kids under their supervision! Just remember that alcohol and swimming don’t mix, and you’ll stay safe.

5. Remove ladders on above-ground pools. When you have an above ground swimming pool you want to remove the steps or ladder when the pool is not in use. All kids are very curious and may climb stairs or a ladder when they see one. Why? Climbing is fun! The danger lies when the child crosses the top of the ladder – and falls into a pool they cannot touch the bottom of. Remember to remove the way into the pool each time after you use your pool.

These are all very simple – yet very important - swimming pool safety tips. Everyone should take time to learn as much as you can about pool safety. This is the only way to make sure you know how to keep kids and adults safe when they are around your pool.

Always remember though, no matter how many safety precautions you put out there, nothing takes the place of adult supervision. If you have crawling babies or toddlers, you must be on your guard at all times! Curious toddlers, especially, have been known to escape from the house, only to be found a while later face down in the parent’s backyard pool. Such tradgedies are preventable. Always be on your guard! Stay safe, and stay cool.