Pools are extremely fun and convenient to have in you’re back yard. They also can be extremely dangerous. With any age children a pool can be a hazard and it is extremely important to learn how to protect your children from those types of hazards. Here are a few ways to keep your children safe from your pool.
Locks
One of the most important parts of having a pool is have a good lock on the back door of your home and the gates to your back yard. This way no children can get in to the pool unless you are unlocking the door or gate for them. There are horror stories of kids wandering outside or into a back yard with a pool and drowning without anyone knowing. You don’t want this to be your child or happen in your pool. If you have children who are old enough to unlock a door but not old enough to swim on their own then you need to put a lock high enough on the door that they cannot reach to unlock.
Gates
Another layer of protection to have against unwanted children in your pool is getting a gate the just goes around the pool. This might seem like too much but I promise when your children are safe it will be worth it. A lot of parents do this so that their children can still play in the back yard and not have the constant fear that they are going to wonder into the pool. Think about it.
Rules
Another great way to keep your children safe from your pool is setting strict rules with strict consequences if they are broken. Depending on what kind of pool you have you will have to set different rules. If you have a shallow pool set a rule for no diving. If you have a pool that goes from shallow to deep set a rule for where they can dive. If you have children that are old enough to swim with out constant supervision a good rule would be that they could only swim if an adult is home. These types of rules will keep your children safe.
Winter
When you have a pool in your back yard it is there all year round even when it cannot be used without developing hypothermia. There is something you can do though to get rid of the risk of drowning all together when the pool is not in use. To do this you will need to drain your pool in the winter months. This way during the winter you don’t even have to worry about the pool and all its potential dangers.
Cameras
If you have a pool you need to have security cameras that watch it 24/7. I found a company called Smith Monitoring that offers a great app that connects to your security cameras where you can view you home via live video from your smart phone at any time. The Smith security app you can check your pool during the day while you are gone to make sure there are not uninvited visitors. If you have children that are old enough to swim on their own you can use this app to check in on them every once in a while, because that’s just what parents do.
Author Bio: Ally is a writer, wife, youth mentor, and health nut. Follow her blogs for all the current trends on home, health, and family.
