Do you have a backyard pool at your home? All backyard pool owners must ensure that their swimming pool area is one that’s completely safe for all who enter. They can do this by installing one or more pool barriers, posting swimming rules for pool safety for all to follow, and by creating a swimming pool safety checklist that’s specific to their swimming pool area. 

Your Pool Safety Checklist

Anyone who’s in charge of pool safety needs to create a pool safety checklist, as this checklist can save the lives of both children and adults. The list below is a safety checklist that can be printed out by those who are in charge of pool safety, making it easy for them to see at a glance whether or not all of their safety checklist boxes have been checked. Because every pool area is unique to each home, it may be necessary to add or subtract items from this checklist to make it customized for any particular backyard pool area.

• Make Sure Rules for Pool Safety are Posted Correctly. Any pool safety rules that need to be followed while swimming in a backyard swimming pool, or even hanging out in a pool area, not only need to be easy to understand, they also need to be posted in an obvious place for all to see.
• Teach Children How to Swim. Children can be taught how to swim by their parents, or by taking a local swimming class that offers swimming lessons for young ones.
• Check Ladders, Rails, etc. to Ensure All are Working Properly. Performing a safety check on all parts of a pool is necessary before allowing children to swim. If any problems are found, they need to be addressed immediately. 
• Make Sure an Adult is Always Watching. An adult should always be watching pool swimmers, they should also know how to perform first aid, including CPR.
• Install Self-Closing and Self-Latching Gates. These common safety barriers should be checked often in order to ensure they’re working properly, as they help prevent unauthorized pool access. 
• Keep the Pool Area Free of Clutter. Too much clutter in a swimming pool area does not support a safe pool area. Removing clutter helps prevent pool accidents from happening, as it’s much too easy to trip over swimming pool toys, etc.
• Install a High-Quality Pool Alarm. Swimming pool alarms are installed to ensure that no one is able to enter a pool or pool area when they’re not authorized to do so.
• Install a Pool Safety Fence. The most important pool barrier is a pool safety fence, which needs to completely surround the pool area and be at least 4 feet tall.
• Have Emergency Numbers Easily Accessible. Anyone who’s in charge of a swimming pool area needs to make sure they have a list of emergency numbers preinstalled in their cellphones. Since no one knows when a pool accident may occur, having these numbers easily accessible is important. Examples of numbers to include – emergency room, doctor’s office, family, and neighbors.

Considering inviting one or more of your children’s friends over to go pool swimming for the first time? Then you need to understand their swimming skills. While invited children always need to be watched closely, it’s important for you to understand how well your child’s friends can handle being in or around a swimming pool. Pool safety for children should never be underrated, as swimming pool accidents unfortunately happen all the time.

Child drownings can be prevented. The Red Cross tells us to never leave a young child unattended near water, to teach children to always ask permission to go near water, and to not trust a child’s life to another child.

The Importance of Swimming Safety When Inviting Friends Over

Age matters, making it essential for parents to keep a close eye on their child and their child’s friends no matter what their ages. Children around the age of five should always be in arms reach when in a pool area. Older children who know how to swim properly still need to be closely watched, as unsupervised swimming is when accidents tend to happen most. 

4 Questions

Below is a list of 4 questions every parent needs to ask their children’s friend’s in order to  understand their swimming ability, as well as their overall swimming knowledge.

1. Have You Ever Taken Swimming Lessons?

Parents need to understand whether or not their child’s friends have taken swimming lessons before, as this allows them to have a better understanding on how well they can swim. When their reply is yes, parents still need to watch them closely, but can feel more confident in their ability to properly swim. When their reply is no, it’s important for parents to closely watch them every single second they’re in the pool area.

2. Do You Know How To Tread Water?

It’s important for every child to understand how to tread water, as this is a basic water safety skill. In fact, treading water is one of the first things children are taught when taking swimming lessons. This potentially life-saving skill is one that every child should know and if they don’t, they can be taught the proper way to tread water in about half an hour.

3. Can You Hold Your Breath Underwater?

One of the things every child needs to learn how to do when swimming in a pool is to hold their breath underwater. This is something parents need to know, as if a child does not know how to hold their breath underwater, that means they should always be seen above the water line.

4. Are You Comfortable Swimming in the Deep End?

Many children feel confident swimming in a pool, as long as they’re able to touch the bottom. Children who express they’re comfortable swimming in the deep end of a pool are more likely to have more swimming experience, and therefore be a better swimmer. 

Preparation equals Prevention

It’s essential for you as a pool owner to ask your children’s friends questions in order to understand their swimming abilities the first time they come over to go swimming. Be sure to not just take their word for it if they claim they’re a great swimmer, as their young lives are in your hands. Even if after watching the children swimming for a while and they seem to be doing well, it’s still essential for you to watch them closely every single second, as you never know when a swimming pool accident or tragedy will occur.

Never, ever underestimate the importance of kids pool safety!