Supervision Key to Kids’ Pool Safety

Excerpted from Family Safety & Health, Vol. 65, No. 2

Swimming is a great way for children to find relief from the heat and get some exercise. But a day at the pool is no time to forget about safety – even with a lifeguard on duty.

The pool is no place for parents to relax. In 2005, drownings were the second leading cause of accidental death for children and adolescents, according to the National Safety Council. Almost 50 percent of deaths caused by drowning occurred during the summer months.

Active supervision is key; it’s the most effective way to prevent your child from drowning. Stay just an arm’s length away from a child in the water, whether or not lifeguards are present.

Also, young children need to be comfortable in the pool. For example, children must learn how to climb into a pool safely, as well as learn that they must stop and wait for an adult.

Although they are not a substitute for supervision, swimming lessons can help prevent drowning. Lessons should not begin, however, until both child and parent are ready and parents are able to schedule and attend their young one’s practice time.

While at the pool, your child can be exposed to recreational water illnesses.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recreational water illnesses are spread by swallowing, breathing or having contact with contaminated water from pools, spas, lakes, rivers or oceans. Recreational water illnesses can cause a wide variety of symptoms including skin, ear, respiratory, eye and wound infections. The most commonly reported recreational water illness is diarrhea, which contains millions of germs.

Swimming when ill with diarrhea easily can contaminate large pools. So if your child swallows water that has been contaminated with feces, he or she may become sick. Many of these diarrhea-causing germs do not have to be swallowed in large amounts to cause illness.

Luckily, recreational water illnesses are killed by chlorine. However, it takes time to kill certain germs that can live in pools for days. Some people may believe too much chlorine in a pool can be harmful. But actually, it is a much bigger problem when there is not enough chlorine.

A strong chlorine smell is an indicator that not enough chlorine is in the pool, as opposed to too much.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers these tips to keep your children and other swimmers healthy in the pool:

  • Do not allow your children to swim when they have diarrhea. They can spread germs in the water. This is especially important for kids in diapers.
  • Tell your children to avoid getting water in their mouth
  • Make sure your children practice good hygiene. Have them shower before swimming and wash hands after using the restroom.
  • Do not change diapers at poolside. Germs can spread to surfaces and objects in and around the pool and spread illness.
  • If you have young children that need diapers changed, wash your child thoroughly with soap and water before swimming. Everyone has invisible amounts of fecal matter that end up in the pool.