Water Safety Newsletter Archives - Page 6 of 6

Pool Gate Left Open: The Unspeakable Happened

February 12, 2018 by Tessa Rhodes Leave a Comment

“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

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?

January 29, 2018 by Tessa Rhodes 4 Comments

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.)

Pet doors and the hidden danger that every parent should know.

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.

A door to your house is somewhat of a challenge but a pet door. Easy as pie.

As you can see from this Facebook thread: Even an electronic smart door for pets can’t outsmart a toddler.

And in case you were wondering, smart door pet doors are not designed with a child’s safety in mind.

Their primary purpose is to keep other neighborhood pets and critters out of your house.

So if your child does escape through the smart door pet door, there’s a good chance that he will not be able to get back in.

Pet doors and childhood injury and death

Here’s what I found from the Safety Research and Strategies website:

About 3/4 of known pet door incidents end in death or injury.
While a handful of child injury researchers are aware of the link between pet doors and childhood injury and death, even fewer parents are aware of the dangers posed by them.
The size of the opening appears deceptively small. Parents may believe that their child is safely contained inside the home. But an average medium pet door with a typical opening of 8 x 11 inches is recommended by manufacturers for use with pets up to 40 pounds. A 95th percentile, three-year-old male child, weighs only 38 pounds and can easily pass through this opening.

So what can you do to protect your children?

This is what I found on the interwebs 😃 for toddler monitor type devices that you might find interesting of which I have no affiliation. I felt like I needed to let you know that:

Krista Teare, the mother of Declan, who was found sleeping with lawn sprinklers, developed an innovative toddler monitor. It hangs on the doorknob and alerts you via your smartphone when the door opens. It doesn’t work on pet doors, however.
I also found a list of the best GPS tracking watches for kids. It is worth noting however that there are no truly “tamper-proof” models it seems. Most include a silicone band that can be easily removed. Some of the devices do have tamper alerts to let you know if the child – or someone else – tries to remove it, but there’s nothing stopping them from doing so.
And finally, I found another list of the top 9 door and window sensors.

But unfortunately, I didn’t find any devices that are explicitly designed to prevent your child from escaping through a pet door. The closest gadget to contain your little escape artist would be a door sensor, but then it’s going to sound an alarm every time your pet exits and enters your home.

And if you want to hear a 120-decibel alarm going off every time your beloved furry family member uses the pet door, then maybe that would be a good option for you.

But for the rest of us, that would get a little tiresome after awhile. Correction. Instantaneously. I don’t think your dog or cat would appreciate it either.

Although, it would be fun to witness their reaction. Just one time. Okay, two or three times. Five or six tops. No more than ten times. Then it’s just cruel. 😃 Kidding! But seriously, the video WOULD go viral. Just sayin’.

Short of having the perfect toddler monitor the next best thing is to childproof your yard

So if you have a pool, please consider installing a fence (climb-resistant mesh fence is best) around your pool, if you haven’t already.

And 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 landscae water features.

And finally here’s an alternative to a pet door. The Childproof Door Buddy Door Latch

If you are ok with keeping your pets (and of course your child) inside at night, a safer alternative is to forego the pet door altogether and keep your doors closed and locked at night. During the day, you can use a childproof door latch like this one by Door Buddy. It is an adjustable door strap that fits onto your door and frame -out of reach from your child’s busy fingers. An added bonus is that you can set it to the perfect width to let your cat (and small dog) in and out while stopping your child from following. You can also opt to get the one with the door stopper. This combo will prevent your child from closing the door and locking your cat in or out. Plus, it helps keep little fingers safe.

Drowning is the number one cause of accidental death among children ages 1-4. These children most often drown in home pools.

Drowning is also easily preventable. And one of the most important and easiest ways to keep your children safe is to erect barriers around your pool, spa, and landscape water features.

If you don’t have a pool hopefully, your yard is fenced in…

…So that your kids don’t wander out into the street.

The mother of the master doorknob hacker had a story about that too. Her friends (parents of a toddler) both had to call in sick one day from work. They ended up falling asleep at the same time. Upon awakening, their child was nowhere in sight. Fortunately, they found her on the sidewalk without delay or harm.

Maybe a fenced-in yard would’ve kept her off of the sidewalk and away from the street.

So what have we learned here?

You can’t take your eyes off of your kiddo for even a second because they’re likely to try to escape and no gadgets or devices currently on the market are 100% effective.

What about you? Do you have a pet door and young children?

If so, what do you do to keep them safe? I would love to know how you handle this dilemma.

Any suggestions or thoughts on the subject that might be helpful to our readers would be much appreciated. Because it’s entirely possible that I missed something relevant and maybe you can enlighten us.

I look forward to hearing from you with your brilliant ideas.

Love the water but fence it in, pet doors
Tessa pet doors

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

Do You Have a Fearless Child?

December 16, 2017 by Tessa Rhodes Leave a Comment

do you have a fearless child?

Ahhhh!!!! The holidays are approaching so fast. I have a gazillion things to do to prepare for a gazillion visitors. And I have done nothing! I tell you, nothing! Also, my son will be returning from college. I can’t wait! It’s been so long. Enough about me.

Do you have a fearless child?

If you are a reader of my blog, then you know that I have devoted a lot of time to helping children overcome their fear of water. But what about the child who has no fear. The fearless child. Always putting himself in harm’s way and not considering the outcome. This child is at an even higher risk of drowning than the fearful one.

Check out these great tips on parenting the fearless child.

I struck up a conversation with a woman recently about her fearless child.

She told me that her son, five years old wanted to show her “his skills.” And, yes, she did include the air quotes when speaking of “his skills.”

So, here’s what happened. During a visit to a friend’s house, the five-year-old, let’s call him Johnny, ripped off his water wings and stepped into the inground spa (not heated to the typical hot tub temperature).

Now standing on the seat and with the intent to make it to the other side, he leapt into the middle with all the confidence one can muster. In an instant, with limbs akimbo, (I bet you never saw that coming) and with his mother on the sidelines rooting him on, he did make it to the other side.

Johnny was a tad traumatized and perhaps a little surprised that it didn’t go down exactly as planned.

His mom said that the incident made him more aware of the fact that maybe he doesn’t have the “skills.” It’s a lesson that Johnny will not soon forget. And as a result, he’s much more cautious when he’s around water. Mission accomplished because isn’t that precisely what we all want from our children?

So give your children the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and let them experience the natural consequences (as long as it’s not too dangerous). It makes more of an impact and tends to leave a long-lasting impression.

But WHEN will they learn to make better choices? I’m glad you asked.

Did you know that the prefrontal cortex (decision making, problem-solving and moderating social behavior part of the brain) isn’t fully developed until about age 25 or so? For more on this, be sure to check out my blog post entitled When Will My Child Ever Learn?

In the meantime between now and when they celebrate their 25th birthday, you’ll just need to continue to help them make better choices.

So if you have little ones around the house, especially fearless kiddos, extra vigilance is essential when around bodies of water.

And be sure to continually remind them to stay away from water hazards, wear life jackets, stay close to adults, never swim alone, and the list goes on because they WILL forget.

Also consider fencing in your pool, spa and or landscape water features. Children ages 1-4 years most often drown in home pools, simply because there are no barriers.

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

Love the water but fence it in, do you have a fearless child
Tessa do you have a fearless child

P.P.S. To start your child on the path to becoming water safe, click here. do you have a fearless child

All about Swim Diapers, in the News and Water Safety Tips

December 4, 2017 by Tessa Rhodes Leave a Comment

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know, it’s been a long time. The summer was crazy busy, so I had no time to write, but I’m back.

I just uploaded a new blog post

It’s all about swim diapers. Everything you wanted to know and more. In case you thought that you wanted to know a whole lot about swim diapers, then you’ve come to the right place. It also includes a swim diaper hack video. You’ll want to check it out. It’s a real time saver.

Other points covered include:

Best swim diaper practices
Disposable swim diapers vs. reusable swim diapers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations
Why don’t swim diapers hold urine and much more

In the News swim diapers

This just happened http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-north-hollywood-drowning-20171130-story.html. Don’t let it happen to your little ones. Did you know that any water deep enough to cover the mouth and nose, which can be less than two inches, can cause drowning?

So make sure you check for all potential water hazards in and around your home such as:

Buckets of water so
Toilets so
Bathtubs so
Sinks so
Puddles so
Kiddie pools so
Swimming pools so
Spas so
Landscape water features

Also to prevent accidents from happening, provide close adult supervision. Furthermore, be sure to empty all buckets of water, close bathroom doors, use safety locks on toilets, never leave a child unattended in a bathtub, drain the tub and sinks and empty kiddie pools.

And finally, include barriers around swimming pools, spas, and water features.

No matter how well your child can swim and no matter how shallow the water is, always, always provide constant and vigilant adult supervision.

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

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