pool alarms

[CJBaby]

Is there any reason you are considering an alarm and not a pool fence? I have lived in Florida my whole life and I (and everyone I know with children) would never have our pools without a pool fence. There are too many children that have lost their lives around here in all kinds of circumstances to risk it. I always watch my children (who have had swim lessons,) have chimes on all doors, locks that they can't reach on the doors leading to my pool, etc., and nothing is 100% safe. To me there are just too many things that can go wrong with an alarm. I might be wrong, but you should look into a fence as an option.

 

[bumbershoot]

Water wings are horrible devices!!!!

Seconding that!

I knew it intellectually but was dragging my feet on getting rid of them. I was visiting my brother in San Diego and he has a pool. He was doing exercise swimming while DS and I were hanging out in the shallow end. DS could touch the bottom with tiptoes, and I was in arm's length of him. I turned away to talk to my brother while he was swimming, and I saw my brother's focus go behind me...I turned, and DS had gotten his arms above his head, started to slip under the water, and of course couldln't get his head up b/c that would mean bring his arms down. Which of course, was impossible b/c of the flotation devices on his arms.

It was a textbook example of how bad those things are.

Thankfully I was right there and took a step and got him up. Those things were popped that day and we got a vest for him the following day.


It's weird because water wings are what my brother and I wore while learning to swim...we never had an incident, and that's why I was dragging my feet...but after seeing what they do (keep your arms from helping to get your head up) in a bad situation...I'm a total convert now.



For the swim classes, something the YMCA people teach is that you should NOT get your children dependent on goggles in the younger years. If they feel that they *have to* have the goggles to swim, IF they find themselves in trouble after falling in they might waste time and energy on freaking out b/c they have no goggles, and that time/energy is best spent on treading water etc...saving themselves before an adult finishes up the saving.

It's (the swim lessons) just about buying the child time, giving him/her a chance...and having a child dependent on goggles wastes the time. (and I have seen it happen when parents ignore the Y's advice...kids absolutely flip out when they don't have the goggles...including my son when I finally listened to the advice and weaned him off of them!)

 

[JennaTX]

Thank you for all of the input. It is sooo helpful and I feel much better prepared to tackle this task. My daughter is 27 months and my son is 5 months. DD can tread water and float as we started her at 6 months. DS will start lessons the week after we move.

At that age I would put in a pool fence with a key lock. You are much less likely to forget to lock the pool gate than a door to your house.

My DS was 3 and DD 6 when we bought our house with a pool. I paid the money to have the pool fence put in. It was expensive and I only used it for a few years but worth it. We had 3 doors that went outside to the pool plus numerous windows. Sure we had an alarm system for the house that the doors and windows were wired for, but unless you have it armed all day it doesn't do much good. And even if it beeps when you open a door or window, you get used to that with kids going in and out.

Like others have said, nothing works better than adult supervision!

 

[CJBaby]

At that age I would put in a pool fence with a key lock. You are much less likely to forget to lock the pool gate than a door to your house.

It seems that the recommendation is a self closing, self locking gate. The one that I have installed has the latch that I have to physically close. I didn't know there were ones that were "self closing, self locking."

This morning I happened to see this :

http://poolsafely.gov/news/75-drownings-near-drownings-15-weeks-pool-safely-psas-urge-parents-watch-children-times-pools-spas-summer/ April 21st, 2011
75 Drownings and Near-Drownings in 15 Weeks; Pool Safely PSAs Urge Parents to Watch Children At All Times Around Pools and Spas This Summer




I was curious about the official position on pool alarms vs. pool fence, so I went to http://poolsafely.gov and found this:

http://www.poolsafely.gov/pool-spa-safety/safety-system/barriers/

 

[jodifla]

I think you want multiple levels of security. Alarms, good solid fence around the pool, constant adult supervision.

Also, you want an unbreakable routine. Things you always do....checking daily and at nighttime that the alarms are set, the fence is looked, the doors to the outside are locked.

I had a neighbor who had an above ground pool with a 2-year-old and an infant. The ONE time she failed to remove the ladder, the 2-year-old ran back to the pool when she was feeding the infant, climbed in and drowned.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Like others, we have a pool cage. We also had a pool fence installed around the pool 13 years ago, however, NOTHING works as well as a vigilant adult.

I agree with this. We have a pool also and I was scared when we first moved in because my children were so small. We have a fence, but I also have door alarms. Even with that I was nervous and thought about a pool alarm myself, but I didn't get one even though I should have, I just ran the house like a prison. I would not let my children outside at all without me, and they were NOT allowed in the fence without an adult. I have this rule still today, and my kids are older.

What I would do along with any safety measures that you take, would be to install either chains or some other kind of door latch on each door going out of the house. Keep them on at all times. I did this and I have never had a problem.

You can't ever be to cautious when it comes to pools or any water for that matter. Take every step that you can think of to protect your children.