Just curious, if you have a pool and young children...

[luvwinnie]

what precautions do you take? I was watching House Hunters and this couple didn't want a pool due to their soon-to-be-born child and all I could think was Well, if you WATCH the kid and take serious precautions, you can ENJOY the pool with your child. I would think a fence around the pool with proper locks would be one thing to do...also an alarm on the back door of the house so you know if the child gets out accidentally. I think there are also alarms that go off if something hits the water at certain times, no?

 

[ChristmasElf]

We had a child protective fence when our kids were younger. In this house we have the pool but no fence as the kids are older.
Pinch a Penny sells the pool alarms that warn parents if a child has entered the pool.

 

[Buckalew11]

Actually, I think that is a personal preference. I grew up always having a pool but knew when we moved here that I didn't want one because this was the house we were going to start a family in. I just didn't want the worry that can come with having kids and having a pool. My mom had a pool when Hunter was little and over there a lot. Nothing ever happened but I did worry about it (worrier that I am). My sister has 4 kids and put in a pool when they were quite young. She took a lot of precautions.

I don't think it has much to do with "watching" you kids. I think it is just a personal preference.

 

[mtemm]

honestly, my children are young (age 4 and 2) and when we were house hunting last fall, I was adament that I didn't want a house with a pool. I know I can watch them, but things can happen so fast, I just didn't want to even think about a pool. maybe someday, but not now.

 

[ohiominnie]

what precautions do you take? I was watching House Hunters and this couple didn't want a pool due to their soon-to-be-born child and all I could think was Well, if you WATCH the kid and take serious precautions, you can ENJOY the pool with your child. I would think a fence around the pool with proper locks would be one thing to do...also an alarm on the back door of the house so you know if the child gets out accidentally. I think there are also alarms that go off if something hits the water at certain times, no?

We have a pool. Moved in here when ds was 1 1/2 and it was a little scary. The way the pool is situated, there is no way to just fence off only the pool without cutting off access to the rest of the backyard from the patio.

Yes, we did watch him like a hawk. We also did not teach him how to open door locks. We also had a 5 yr old who LOVED to keep us totally up to date on what her baby brother was into!

And right from the beginning we stressed (even though he seemed to young to understand) that the kids could NOT go outside without mom and/or dad.

That being said.....toddlers are FAST. And sometimes when they play quietly we, as overworked, tired mom's, are thankful that they are playing quietly and so we let them play. But oftentimes "quiet" in a toddler's world means "getting into trouble."

Many pool accidents happen every year to kids of "good parents" who WATCH their children. It only takes a matter of minutes (mom going to the bathroom, mom getting laundry out of the dryer, mom cleaning up after another sibling....) Just because a child drowns in a pool doesn't make their parents bad.

Not a pool accident story, but just a testament to how fast toddlers are....when I worked in the under 2 surgical ICU at a Children's Hospital, we had a boy (about 19 months old) life flighted in who was hit by a motorcycle. He was used to going outside to play with the family, mom was busy with other siblings, and so he went out by himself. A biker hit the boy, but it was dusk and thought he had hit an animal and he went home. Not until he got home and heard his police scanner going off saying there was a missing toddler in the area where he "hit an animal" did he even think twice about it. He went back and led the police to the area he thought he hit something.....sure enough, the toddler was in the ditch with a severe head injury. He survived for about a week, but his injuries were overwhelming and he died. Mom said she was only busy for about 5 minutes. Just that fast.

 

[poohandwendy]

I never wanted a pool for the safety reasons too. I grew up having an inground pool and I know how quickly things can happen. When weighing the pros and cons (for us), it came out more a liability than it would be worth.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I haven't done this myself...but the precaution DH took with DD and DS (from his first marriage) was to make sure they could swim even before they could walk. Of course they were watched like hawks and there was a high lock on the sliding glass doors. But I really think the key is making sure they can swim. They are still like two fish and spend a lot of time in the water.

 

[ohiominnie]

I also never wanted a pool as an adult. We had an above ground growing up and I hated the maintenance (sweeping and skimming and stuff)

Unfortunately, we loved this house and the location, and it came with a pool (and a hot tub---something else we never would have bought on our own)

That being said....we LOVE having the pool and hot tub now. This is the hang out spot for the kids and their friends. Plus, it's SO much easier than packing everything up and going somewhere else. B/c I always forget SOMETHING!!!

And, now that the kids are older and can be left alone in it for brief periods of time, I can get things done around here (throw in a load of laundry or get some dinner prep done)

Pools do have their pros and cons, that's for sure.

 

[John VN]

As far as DW and I am concerned, if there is a pool in the yard there should be at least a fence around it.

When we had our house built with pool our DD and DS were 12 and 9 and could swim so we did not have a fence but the pool was in an enclosure. As soon as our 1st DGS was born the fence went up. Even though they were 1200 miles away we wanted to be ready when they came downPERIOD

Just last week another child drowned in a nearby town.

 

[Divamomto3]

We have an above ground pool with a deck that is attached to the deck that is attached to our house. There are 2 self latching gates and a pool alarm. I worry constanty. We're moving and I don't want another pool. I also think the pool is a turn off for some buyers and one of the reasons our house isn't selling as fast as I'd like.

 

[clh2]

We have an above ground pool with a deck that is attached to the deck that is attached to our house. There are 2 self latching gates and a pool alarm. I worry constanty. We're moving and I don't want another pool. I also think the pool is a turn off for some buyers and one of the reasons our house isn't selling as fast as I'd like.

Our house had an above ground pool when we moved in 12 years ago. As part of our offer to purchase, the sellers needed to remove the pool and associated deck. I was 6mos. pregnant with DD at the time. There was NO WAY I wanted the pool, not even for a second. I still don't want one. Of course, we live in WI, so the summer is only about 2.5 months long around here.

 

[4greatboys]

Our back yard is fenced in and the pool area is fenced in as well.

 

[Claudia1]

We didn't expect to be raising another child when we put in our pool, so our 3 yr old DGD keeps us on our toes. DH rebuilt the gate/entry area this summer to a height of 5 feet with no holds or places to grab & climb over. The rest of the fencing is secure but we never leave her unattended at any time.

I researched a pool gate alarm but the most popular model has a factory-set time delay of 7 seconds "to give the adults time to enter and cancel the alarm". Yikes! In 7 seconds, she could already be at the bottom of the pool!

Constant monitoring and training are the best protection.

 

[jodifla]

I too didn't want a pool with a baby/toddler. It is just a constant state of worry. It only takes one time of forgetting to latch the gate for tragedy to strike.

My DS's playmate drowned when she was 2. They lived around the corner from us. The baby woke up from her nap, mom went to get her, not realizing she hadn't put down the ladder to the above ground pool, and the toddler was off to the pool. That child's funeral was one of the worst experiences of my life.

 

[paigevz]

Count me in as a "no pool" preference. We wouldn't look at houses with pools when we went looking. Both so I wouldn't go crazy out of my head worrying about the little one (even with precautions, and supervision, they can get away from you), but also because of the upkeep. We were pleased to find a community with two pools..........we can go anytime, but I don't have to worry at home if they are playing quietly and don't have to do any work on it.

 

[DVC-Don]

Ours is fenced in and when the kids were younger (now 14 & 15) we also had an alarm in the water that sounded outside and in the house if it detected something in the water (course it detected a LOT of things in the water ) And we had the YMCA send a couple of instructors here once or twice a summer for 6 years to give swimming lessons to our kids and every kid who lived around us.

 

[barkley]

we installed "pins" in each of our sliding glass doors (the only access to the back yard). they involved buying a less than $2 kit from the hardware store and drilling a hole in the metal/vinal beams where the two doors intersect.

on both doors we put them at the top and they were a tight enuf fit it took a bit of twisting and pulling for an adult to pull them out.

the added advantage was even if someone broke the lock on the door it was impossible to open them without removing the pins.

 

[kellyg403]

When we were househunting we also did not want a pool. My children are older and can swim but now Dgkids are coming along and will be staying at the house alot (I hope). When I was in my 20's, we had a neighbor whose child drowned in their pool when he was 2. They had all the precautions, fencing etc. The little boy woke up in the middle of the night and was tall enough and smart enough to open the doors.

So, in the end...we can do everything possible but we can not stay awake 24 hours a day. Its too much of a risk for me and even though it probably would never happen I just don't really want to find out! I worry enough for 5 people so I would never sleep when the little ones were here.

Kelly