Just because it’s Fall doesn’t mean pool time is going to stop and neither are the injuries; swimming accidents and all the other injuries that go with summer stick with you pretty much year-round. As a parent, you’re constantly wondering how you can deal with this reality, and how you can make it so that your kids remain injury-free and you keep your sanity. If you’re looking for ways to survive swimming accidents and keep your kids injury-free, here are some of the best things you can do to help yourself and help your kids.
Make time to be with your kids when they’re playing in and around water. You’re busy. There’s no denying that. But take your laptop or other work with you to pool and seat yourself under an umbrella from a spot with great visibility. When your children know you are present and watching they’re less likely to do things that could cause them injury.
Make sure your child has the proper safety devices if they’re unstable in water or still learning how to swim in the deep-end. Even when you’re watching or swimming with your kids, they may still slip away from you in water, so it’s important to keep them 100% safe at all times.
Don’t allow your children to play in the pool unattended if they don’t know how to swim. Putting arm flotation devices or a life jacket on your child isn’t enough. In many cases kids can get out of protection devices and may even simply slip out of them. Also, these don’t prevent all types of injuries that can happen in the pool.
Swim with your children whenever possible. When you swim with your children, you can be right there, within arm’s reach, to keep them out of harm’s way. It also helps you to bond with your children and teach them valuable safety lessons by showing them how to swim safely and talking to them while they’re having fun.
Set boundaries and rules for older kids. You can’t always control what your older children do when they are out of your site. And that means that you need to set boundaries and rules for them, like no swimming without an adult present.
Just because your family can swim year-round doesn’t mean you have to worry about injuries. Keep yourself and your kids safe and sane with the above tips and you’ll be solid all year-round!