My son, Ethan landed a new part-time job recently. He’s a deckhand for The Aquabus (a ferry service for Vancouver’s waterfront). Way to go Ethan! self-rescue

And here’s something else to celebrate.

Three and a half year old Caiden passed the ultimate self-rescue challenge. Which means that he now has the life-saving skills that allow him to self-rescue if he ever fell into a pool fully clothed. Way to go Caiden!

Are you and your family equipped with the skills to self-rescue?

A National Survey found that nearly half of Americans (46 percent) report that they have had an experience in the water where they were afraid they might drown. In addition, one in five (19 percent) said they knew someone who had drowned, and 20 percent knew someone who nearly drowned.

So to keep you and your family safe around water. Make sure to:

• Always swim in a lifeguarded area.
• And always swim with a buddy, never swim alone.
• Learn swimming, self-rescue, and other water safety survival skills.
• Provide close and constant attention to children you are supervising in or near water.
• Children, inexperienced swimmers, and boaters should wear U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets.
• Provide adequate barriers around swimming pools, spas, and landscape water features.
• Also, know what to do in an emergency. If a child is missing, check the water first.
• And know when to call 911 and have easy access to reaching or throwing equipment, a cell phone, life jackets and a first aid kit.

And last but not least, if you don’t know how to swim, be sure to enroll yourself in swim lessons now so that you will be able to rescue your child in case of an accidental submersion.

This grandfather died — along with his 4-year-old granddaughter — while he was attempting to save the young girl from drowning in a backyard pool.

You need to learn to swim before your child. Not the other way around.

If you have any thoughts on the subject or experiences that you would like to share, I would love to hear from you.

Love the water but fence it in,
Tessa

P.S. Get the FREE water safety app to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water. It includes kid-friendly videos and quizzes. Search the iTunes app store for Swim by American Red Cross or click here. For Google Play you can use the same search parameters or click here. It provides the latest in water safety guidance to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water.

P.P.S. To start your child on the path to becoming water safe, click here.

Burrrrr, it’s cold. It’s been chilly here in the desert lately. Probably not planning on taking a plunge in your backyard pool anytime soon. But if you’re planning on a remodel of an existing or construction of a new pool, check out the new law. swimming pool safety act

There’s an update to the swimming pool safety act effective January 1, 2018.

You may or may not remember an email that I sent a little over a year ago about the residential swimming pool safety act of California. If you want to read it, click here.

And here’s a little refresher. Upon the issuance of a building permit for construction of a new swimming pool or spa, or the remodeling of an existing pool or spa, at a private, single-family home, the pool or spa is required to be equipped with at least one of 7 drowning prevention safety features.

The safety features include a variety of barriers, pool covers, alarms, etc. For the complete list click here.

So in other words when you find yourself in the position of a swimming pool construction or remodel, and you have to choose one drowning prevention safety feature, it doesn’t even have to be a fence. AAAAHHHHH!!!!

A perfectly maintained climb-resistant mesh fence with a self-closing and self-latching gate is the best defense against drowning.

But it also shouldn’t be the only safety feature in place. The more layers of protection, the better.

Appropriately I decided to take it upon myself to try to change the law so that a fence or barrier is mandatory. It didn’t go well for me. Let’s just say; I got nowhere with it.

But when advocates approached Senator Josh Newman who represents Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Counties with their personal stories, this is what Senator Newman had to say:

“When the families of victims came to me with ways to improve the outdated pool safety act, and thereby prevent others from experiencing the tragedies they had endured through the drowning or near-drowning of a child, I was moved to act. Residential pool drownings can be prevented, and SB 442 will go far toward reducing the pain and costs associated with pool drownings.”

“Requiring an additional safety feature on residential pools will significantly reduce incidents of drowning and drowning-related injuries. I commend and thank Governor Brown for signing this bill.”

The new swimming pool safety act as of January 2018 requires two drowning prevention safety features now instead of just the one.

And let me just preface by saying that it’s an improvement but still not good enough in my opinion, since you still don’t have to choose a fence. A FENCE HAS TO BE A REQUIREMENT!!! I TELL YOU, IT JUST HAS TO BE!!!! It’s the only way to make a real impact on the incidents of drowning.

Now I present to you the new requirements in short form. For the complete version click here:

When a building permit is issued for the construction of a new swimming pool or spa or the remodeling of an existing swimming pool or spa at a private single-family home, the respective swimming pool or spa shall be equipped with at least two of the following seven drowning prevention safety features:

1. An enclosure that isolates the swimming pool or spa from the private single-family home.
2. Removable mesh fencing with a gate that is self-closing and self-latching and can accommodate a key lockable device.
3. An approved safety pool cover.
4. Exit alarms on the private single-family home’s doors that provide direct access to the swimming pool or spa.
5. A self-closing, self-latching device with a release mechanism placed no lower than 54 inches above the floor on the private single-family home’s doors providing direct access to the swimming pool or spa.
6. An alarm that, when placed in a swimming pool or spa, will sound upon detection of accidental or unauthorized entrance into the water, which includes surface motion, pressure, sonar, laser, and infrared type alarms.
7. Other means of protection, if the degree of protection afforded is equal to or greater than that afforded by any of the features set forth above.

My thoughts on the new swimming pool safety act.

So as you can see, you still don’t have to install a fence if you don’t want to. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

How can they not make a fence mandatory? It’s reckless and irresponsible. Drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children under the age of five. And most of these drownings happen in backyard pools.

Imagine for a moment if you will where we live in a world where automobiles don’t include any safety features.

And you, the buyer is required by law to purchase at least two out of seven safety features for your shiny new vehicle. You would have to be out of your mind not to select seatbelts as one of the safety features.

A pool fence is like the seatbelt for your pool. It is entirely without a doubt the very best way to prevent drowning.

Again, if you ever find yourself in the position of having to choose two safety features for your pool, please select the fence as option number one.

And as I noted above, make sure that it is a perfectly maintained climb-resistant mesh fence with a self-closing and self-latching gate that always closes and latches.

The more safety features in place, the better because nothing is 100% effective.

So if one device fails you have multiple backups, since…

• Gates can be left open
• Alarms can fail
• Children can find ways to get under the pool cover and
• These twin girls were found in the water on top of a pool cover that had standing water from recent storms.

If you choose a pool cover as one of your safety features, I beg of you to also fence in your pool.

Let’s transport ourselves back to that parallel universe where cars don’t include any safety features.

Would you really just opt in for the minimum safety requirements to satisfy the lawmakers? I doubt it, especially if you have children. You would do everything in your power to make sure that your vehicle was jam-packed with every safety feature known to man. So why not do the same for your pool?

What if when you opened your back door, you stepped out onto a busy highway. Would you put up a fence then? Of course, you would.

Your pool is just as dangerous as a busy highway with cars zipping by at 80 mph.

Remember drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children under the age of five, not traffic incidents.

To recap: so

• First of all, make the fence your number one priority.
• Also if you choose a safety pool cover, without exception, install a fence.
• And last but not least, choose multiple or all layers of protection to ensure that you never have to experience the nightmare of the loss of a child.

If you have any thoughts on the subject or experiences that you would like to share, I would love to hear from you.

Love the water but fence it in, swimming pool safety act
Tessa swimming pool safety act

P.S. Get the FREE water safety app to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water. It includes kid-friendly videos and quizzes. Search the iTunes app store for Swim by American Red Cross or click here. For Google Play you can use the same search parameters or click here. It provides the latest in water safety guidance to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water.

P.P.S. To start your child on the path to becoming water safe, click here.

 

“She’s dead,” were the first two words written in a Facebook post. A mother of one of my students showed me the Facebook post from a national physician mom’s Facebook group to which she belongs. One of the members, a pediatrician, shared with the group that her daughter drowned that morning in their pool. She said that the pool guy left the gate open. so pool gate left open From the pictures that she posted, her daughter looked to be about 2-years-old. I can’t think of anything worse than outliving your child. My heart breaks for her. She also mentioned in her post that she preaches pool safety daily in her practice. This post has made the mother of my student far more aware of the dangers of having a backyard pool. Her pool is fenced in which is essential when you have young children whether they can swim or not. But until now, it never occurred to her to make sure the gate is closed after the pool guy leaves. She also told me that she’s at work all day and doesn’t even know on which day her pool gets serviced. Up until now, I never would’ve thought of such a simple thing as the gate being left open, by anyone for that matter, not just your pool service professional. But now that this has been brought to our attention why not make it a habit to check your gate daily and especially after your pool has been serviced assuming you know what day that is. Here are some interesting facts I found on this New Zealand website. “Most pools have the correct barriers or fencing in place, but the gates leading to the immediate swimming pool area are often faulty. These gates must be self-closing and latching.” East said. “Often all that’s required is a simple fix to a gate by lubricating the latches and tensioning or replacing springs and hinges. But for some reason, people are neglecting this maintenance.” Mills said this was the problem across the country. pool gate left open “Mechanical failure of gates and latches is the number one cause of drowning fatalities where children have been able to access restricted swimming areas,” he said. The CPSC (United States Consumer Product Safety Commission) reports one out of every ten child pool drownings happens after the child figures out how to get through the pool fence. From this Washington NBC news story. If you do have a pool fence, inspect it regularly: First, check for any spaces or holes that toddlers can slip through. so Do the fist test. If your fist can fit through any gap in the fence, it’s too large. It should be less than four inches. And finally, check along the ground to make sure that older children can’t lift it up enough to let smaller children through. And if you don’t have a pool fence, please consider installing one (climb-resistant mesh fence is best) around your pool. Depending on the law that pertains to you, it will probably need to be somewhere between four and six feet high with a self-closing, self-latching gate with pool alarms. A four-foot fence is the minimum height requirement in some regions. Is it just me, or does that seem awfully short? And even if you do have a fence, close supervision is still essential. Children will find creative ways to scale it. Remove any structures that gain access to the pool. Some structures include but are not limited to outdoor furniture, climbable trees, decorative walls and playground equipment. Also if your children often visit friends and or relatives with a pool, please encourage them also to fence it in. Do the same for other water sources, such as spas and landscape water features. so If your next door neighbor has a pool, hopefully, it’s fenced in. If not make sure that your child doesn’t have any access to your neighbor’s pool: Check your yard fence for any spaces or gaps that your little one might be able to slip through. Do the fist test just as you would do with your pool fence. Any four-inch holes are too large. And remember to check along the ground. Can an older child help a smaller child crawl under your fence? According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) Among children ages 1 to 4, most drownings occur in home swimming pools. And many of these swimming pools are neighbor’s pools. I just Googled “drowning in neighbor’s pool.” A massive amount of results popped up. Children sneak out of their homes early in the morning or in the middle of the night, and then they’re later found in a neighbor’s pool not breathing and unresponsive. There are countless stories like this. If you read my last email, I cited Tovah Klein, Ph.D., director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development: “Starting around 18 months, toddlers suddenly realize, ‘I’m my own person,’” Dr. Klein says. So they’re eager to get out of the stroller and check out the world on their own. “They don’t understand that when they run off, adults can’t necessarily see or protect them,” she explains. To recap: If you don’t have a fence, install a climb-resistant mesh fence as soon as possible. Make sure your gate is closed. Maintain your self-closing self-latching gate. Check for any spaces or holes that toddlers can slip through. Do the fist test. Check along the ground to make sure that older children can’t lift it up enough to let smaller children through. Don’t allow your kids to climb the fence. Remove any structures that gain access to the pool. And even if you do have a fence, close supervision is still essential. If your children often visit friends and or relatives with a pool, encourage them to also fence it in. If your neighbor has a pool, check your yard fence for any spaces or holes. Do the fist test. Check along the ground to make sure small children can’t get through. To learn more about how to keep your children from escaping your home, check out my last newsletter. If you have any thoughts on the subject or experiences that you would like to share, I would love to hear from you. The more real stories that we can share the more of an impact it will have. I witnessed firsthand how the Facebook post invoked an unquestionable emotional response. She’s more motivated now than ever before to make sure her children are water safe. so It also made me more aware of just how these real and compelling stories can inspire parents to take the necessary steps to ensure their children are safe from any water hazards. So, if you have any stories at all that you think might produce the same results, please share. If a family installs a fence around their pool because of sharing your personal experience; you’d be likely saving a life. And by merely sharing this newsletter you’d be doing a service. So please share with everyone or with anyone that you think might benefit from this information. Love the water but fence it in, so pool gate left open Tessa so pool gate left open so Pool gate left open. P.S. Get the FREE water safety app to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water. It includes kid-friendly videos and quizzes. Search the iTunes app store for Swim by American Red Cross or click here. For Google Play you can use the same search parameters or click here. It provides the latest in water safety guidance to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water. P.P.S. To start your child on the path to becoming water safe, click here. so pool gate left open. so pool gate left open

Pet Doors: Are Any of Them Childproof? Let’s find out.

So I was thinking about all the ways young children can escape from their homes. And then I thought, “I bet pet doors pose a problem.” So I started to do some research on the subject.

(This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click on an affiliate link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Full disclaimer.)

I found some parents in forums asking if they should be concerned about installing a pet door. “Will my child be able to escape through it?”

Some parents replied with “I never had any problems. My kids never tried to get through it,” Leaving the concerned parent with a false sense of security.

I probably would’ve replied with the same lack of concern back in the day, since my son never tried to get out of the house. It was just not part of his nature.

Then it happened

The other day, I was speaking on the phone with one of the mother’s (let’s call her Susan) of one of my students (let’s call him Albert since I enjoy coming up with names that parents today would never name their child).

In the middle of the conversation, Albert tried to escape through the pet door. Susan responded, and I paraphrase, “you know you’re not allowed through the doggie door! Get back in here!”

I thought to myself, “Wow! This pet door thing is a real issue.”

Susan shared with me that a few months ago, Albert’s grandparents bought him a trampoline designed for toddlers/preschoolers. Well, naturally this was the best gift ever to Albert.

So the trampoline was placed in the backyard. Well, one day, Albert went missing for a moment or two. Within minutes Susan and her husband discovered him outside on the trampoline. He had escaped through the pet door.

Thank goodness they found him right away and no worse for wear. And also lucky that he was jumping on the trampoline and not into the swimming pool.

Some kids are just born escape artists

Tovah Klein, Ph.D., director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development says that bolting from a parent’s side is a toddler’s way of exploring his independence. “Starting around 18 months, toddlers suddenly realize, ‘I’m my own person,'” Dr. Klein says. So they’re eager to get out of the stroller and check out the world on their own. “They don’t understand that when they run off, adults can’t necessarily see or protect them,” she explains.

Did this particular sentence have an impact on you, as it did with me? “THEY don’t understand that when they run off, adults can’t necessarily see or protect them.” This quote struck a chord with me.

So in other words, toddlers think that their parents are just these magical beings. They must feel so secure all the time. It doesn’t matter what they do; they believe that they will always be safe.

More toddler/preschooler escape stories for you because I aim to please

From the Calgary Herald: Last summer, Krista Teare said she was baffled to find lawn sprinklers nestled in bed beside her sleeping son Declan in their Garrison Green home.

“Obviously, he’d been out of our house when we were asleep,” said Teare, adding the boy probably squeezed through a dog door to complete his brief escape.

And from right here in the desert: A mother of two of my students told me the other day that her son has been able to crack the code of every type of doorknob and childproof doorknob known to man. There is nothing that won’t hold him back.

Scientists today are still analyzing the intricate workings of the toddler/preschooler brain in the hopes of designing the perfect childproof doorknob. Because when little kids want to get through a door, they will find a way.