If you have a family vacation coming up, water safety is an essential priority. As many as 49% of families go swimming on their summer vacation. No matter where you’re headed, it’s important to make sure your family stays safe while you enjoy your time together.
Be prepared
In good time before your vacation, work on improving your family’s water confidence and swimming skills. For example, enroll your children in swimming lessons. Participation in formal swimming lessons is associated with an 88% decrease in the risk of drowning in children aged between one and four.
Additionally, all adults should know how to swim, as well as know how to perform CPR. CPR skills help prepare you to act quickly in the event that someone in your group is at risk of drowning: they have the power to save someone’s life in the time it takes for paramedics to arrive.
Read Also: Some Best Methods for Your Swimming Pool
Pool safety standards
Make sure to check the safety standards in place before taking your family to a specific pool. For example, call your hotel and ask if the pool has a self-closing, self-latching gate around its perimeter, or if a keycard is required to enter the area. Fences and barriers are crucial for preventing children from getting in the water without adult supervision.
Moreover, public pools are legally required to have drain gates or covers designed to protect swimmers from drain suction entrapment and drowning. Ask the pool owner if they use anti-entrapment drain covers before your family gets in the water.
Always supervise your children
Although you may be tempted to let lifeguards or other nearby adults supervise your children in and around the water, it’s not a good plan of action. Drownings most commonly occur because parents assume other adults are watching their children, but in reality no one is. Even in locations with a lifeguard present, parents should always designate a specific adult to supervise their children.
This adult should keep their full attention on the children and not be reading or on their phone. Make sure adults take turns to be the water safety supervisor so everyone gets a fair chance to relax and enjoy the vacation.
Whether you’re at the beach or hitting up the pool, water safety should be an essential consideration. With the proper water safety precautions, families will be better able to enjoy their vacation time together.
