Here in Austin, parents and children inevitably spend a lot of time in the pool or lake. Typically, parents start children out with swim lessons at a young age (often when they’re too young to do anything but be held by parents). We gradually step back as they attend lessons with instructors, then start swimming for fun with friends or even with a swim team. Or, if you’re anything like me you just keep the second child in a puddle jumper until their old enough to seriously consider swimming alone, but now I’ve digressed into my laziness as a parent …
Along with the pure joy kids experience while swimming, we often are in the midst of mass chaos. Tons of kids in and out of the water, tons of adults around (mostly chatting with friends or “watching” their kids from a reclined chair while checking Facebook, and maybe a lifeguard at the far end of the pool.
In my career, we routinely are called to help organizations keep the youth they serve safe in their swimming programs. This not only involves minimizing the risk for drowning, but also to managing how the kids and adults behave in the water.
Based on my experiences, I’ve put together the following:
Seven Tips for Safe Swimming
1. If possible, keep your child in sight at all times.
I emphasize if possible because I know this might be difficult, but it’s the best way to ensure your child’s safety.
2. If you can’t attend every lesson or practice, drop by randomly to observe the time your child spends at the pool with his/her friends and/or instructors.
3. Observe how adult instructors, lifeguards, and other adults at the pool interact with kids.
Make sure they aren’t roughhousing, tickling, or touching children inappropriately. One thing to ask yourself is would I think his/her behavior is appropriate if it occurred out of the water? Often, we dismiss how touchy-feely or goofy people behave in the water more than we would outside of it.
4. Supervise your child in the locker room.
When we lived in Seattle, our community pool’s locker room was super tiny and many women and children crammed in there at one time. Then, nudity gets added to the equation. If possible, I try to grab a corner so that we both can change quickly and I can block his attempts to run away. Your child might go through a phase where they don’t want to change in front of others and that is okay! Encourage them to use a stall to change or (gasp!) dry them off as good as you can and throw some clothes over their wet swimsuit. They won’t freeze to death during the short car ride home (especially here in Texas!).
5. Have a plan for older children of the opposite sex.
If you feel like your son is too old to go in the women’s locker room with you, ask your pool staff about a family changing area or single-use bathroom. Many pools have these as a safe alternative for these situations. I would caution against sending a young boy into a locker room by himself. You just don’t know who is in that locker room and I think it’s too risky.
6. Ask pool management how they train their staff.
Do they get annual training? Most importantly to me, I want to know if they are trained in abuse prevention. Do they know how abuse occurs in a pool environment? What are their procedures if they get reports of inappropriate behavior? How are they trained to touch children during lessons?
7. Report any inappropriate behaviors to pool management.
If you see kids or adults behaving inappropriately in or out of the water, report it. Often, pools rely on lifeguards to enforce all of their pool rules and, let’s be honest, they’re often busy enough making sure kids aren’t drowning. So, if kids are unsafely running around on the pool deck or goofing around in the locker room, tell someone. If there’s someone hanging around in the water or on the pool deck that makes you feel uncomfortable, tell someone.
