29/04/2022
Copied and pasted but a very important PSA!!
May is almost here and it’s National Water Safety Month!
Will you take a moment to hear me out about Puddle Jumpers and other swim trainers, arm floaties and the danger they present around the water?
Just say NO to Puddle Jumpers! 👎🏻
They absolutely do NOT help your child learn to swim. They do the exact opposite! They MIGHT briefly help your child stay afloat in the water but is the “convenience” they offer you worth the cost?!
A Puddle Jumper is putting your child into the wrong body position to swim independently and the wrong mindset (he/she thinks they can swim alone with their face UP even without it on!!) and that combination, if the child ever finds themselves around water alone, even for a moment, can be deadly!
Puddle jumpers and other swim trainers, noodles etc also allow for a child to float straight up and down without kicking at all. Legs dangling, just relaxing. When teaching a child to swim one of the most important things for them to master is a proper flutter kick. Children who have been in floatation devices floating in the water often have bicycle kicks and while we can often get those behind them and on top of the water eventually with a good bit of work, the extremely bent knees are still very hard to break and that kick may not be as effective as it should or could be without a lot of time and practice.
Try not to fall into that trap of “I need something” for my child to wear at the pool. Your child really just needs YOU in the water with them. When you’re tired of being in the big pool or supervising them in the baby pool, it’s time to go home.
I am a mom of three boys. Teaching them to have a healthy fear of the water and enforcing firm rules around the pool are key. When my boys were little and still were not independent swimmers, I always got in the water with them. They knew that they weren't allowed to jump in, sit on the side or even put a toe in the pool until I got in first. I wouldn't let them get anywhere near the edge of the water without me. A couple of times of just sitting them in a chair in time out at the pool while the rest of us had fun in the water (watching that one that didn't follow the rules of course) made a huge impact and my boys learned really quick what was and wasn't allowed on or around the pool deck. I let them jump to me and swim to and from the steps and they loved it but it was only for when I (or daddy) was in the water. As they mastered their skills I was able to sit on the steps or the side and watch and eventually poolside in a chair.
If you bite the bullet and put the effort in now (meaning you HAVE to get in and be the big time rule enforcer) your child will learn to swim faster, stronger and be much safer in the long run.
Using a puddle jumper, swim trainer, swim aid or arm floaties etc in the pool will only reinforce bad form (bicycle kick, chin up and face out as well as a vertical body position) and you'll spend more time and MONEY in swim lessons down the road trying to help him or her re learn the correct kick and body position.
Your child still NEEDS a well fitting TYPE II life jacket for when you are at the lake, in a boat, surf at the beach or on or around a dock etc. A puddle jumper is classified as a Type III - they are NOT safe - please please throw them away! If you were to have an accident on a boat a puddle jumper with one flimsy back strap, no strap between the legs and no flap on the back is not sufficient to save your child and turn them face up if they were thrown from the boat.
Should you still decide to use a floatation device PLEASE DO NOT ever let your child FLOAT in a pool, lake, ocean etc in ANY floatation device for any extended period of time. It’s not the way we swim and it can do so much more harm than good. We swim in a prone, face down position, and it’s not worth it to let them spend hours floating in a device that will give them that sense of false confidence. Making them believe that they can swim and float alone, straight up and down, when they actually can not. Try to spend at least as much time out of the device practicing with your child as they are in the device. If you have your child in a floatation device make sure they are always within arm’s reach. They should not ever be floating alone in the pool.
If you’ve been using these in the past don’t worry, it’s NEVER too late to make a change. Now is a great time to think about changing up the way you will do things around the water this summer.
❤️❤️❤️
