Water Safety for Kids

My oldest son celebrated his 35th birthday last Sunday. While discussing how old he'd gotten, I asked him if he would be able to bring his family down during his vacation. My wife and I live in southwest Florida and he lives in Tennessee. His little girl will be 2 years old in June and I wanna make sure I'm current on water safety for kids so she can enjoy our pool.

While browsing thru various catalogs for child water safety, I realized my wife and I have quite a few swimming pool toys, but nothing about water safety for kids.


Each year about 300 children under the age of 5 drown in residential or family pools. Approximately 75% of these children are between the ages of 1 and 3 years old. Another 2000 children are treated in emergency rooms related to swimming pool accidents. Two year olds are notorious for disappearing the moment your head is turned and our granddaughter is no exception.

Now, all of a sudden my attention is turned toward water safety for kids and I could really use some baby advice. Probably, the best item to keep a 2 year old from wandering off into the pool during an unguarded moment is a swimming pool fence. I say probably because this will be our first experience worrying about a toddler falling into our pool.

Swimming pool fences come in various styles,materials, and heights. After looking into different types of fences, I like the removable mesh design the best. The fence is installed with removable sections held by safety latches at the top. This makes removal and reinstallation a breeze.

Floating pool alarms are a great safety feature to have for that little one that gets thru the fence. Underwater alarms are activated when anything weighing 15 lbs. or more falls into your pool. Perimeter sensors sound the alarm when a child or pet approaches the pool. There is a system utilizing a wristband for the child and a base setup for Mom and Dad. As long as your child is wearing the wristband it is on and will sound an alarm the second it enters the water.

My wife and I are looking forward to a visit from our granddaughter, but we want to make sure she will be safe while enjoying our swimming pool. All of these products will help to keep a child out of trouble around the swimming pool, but the only way to ensure water safety for kids around the swimming pool is, constant supervision from Mom,Dad, and/or the grandparents.