Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Truthful Lies... thanks for your post
As a child we were not permitted to scream outrageously and to yell the word "help" in play when no help was really needed was grounds for spending the day out of the water.
Water safety was a serious issue and we were not permitted to take it lightly.
I guess that is why I find it shocking that so many people do.
Truth be told my husband for years tried to imply that I was overly cautious with the children near water. Living in Florida where many shark attacks happen there are some special rules to follow... Like never swim in water you can't see clear to the bottom...
He changed his tune when his friend (a long time surfer in Daytona) told him that in fact I was correct and not overly cautious at all.
Wow, was that frightening, scm! I am so sorry. (I was scared just reading it.)
"Dead man's float" is problematic, obviously, due to concrete banks and the concerns of lifeguards. But from a purely swimming point of view, your kid's instinct wasn't such a bad one in terms of dealing with large waves!
I live in Ft Lauderdale when I was 11 years old LOL
So 1982 ... and briefly in my early 20's before I moved to South Beach.
I think I have read that your children are older then I am
Hi Nova,
As you well know, parenting is not for the faint of heart!:crazy:
maybe i am mistaken....
i didn't read as you defending the mom. i read it as you drawing a line between a mom who has a 5yr old who sneaks out to the family pool while mom is cooking and some1 like this mom. yes both moms should be watching the kids and they are responsible if they fail to keep the child safe. 1 is a accident and we grieve for the mom. the other is neglect! bad things can happen to the best moms. mothers like this 1 i just cant understand.No, you are exactly right. My post above yours now looks more like a defense of this mother than I intended. I just meant that in general I am sympathetic toward the demands of parenting.
I wouldn't let a 4-year-old out of my sight (and not far out of my reach) in any body of water, much less a crowded pool with artificially heightened wave action.
(For the record, my 15-year-old niece is visiting. We don't let her use the swimming pool unless someone else is present. Why take that chance?)
You and my stepdaughter are roughly the same age; my stepson is a little older. I skipped town before you arrived, alas.
But I bet you can guess where I went to high school...
......When our kids were young, they lived most of the time with their mother. So when they were with us, we could arrange it so they were never out of the sight of one of us and rarely out of the sight of us both. (Fortunately. As Manhattan in the late 70s, early 80s was pretty rough.)......As in your experience, even the best of kids can slip away very quickly.
This will probably sound hopelessly ignorant - especially since I was an older mother who had kids in my mid30s - but the fact that you have to watch them constantly was one of those parenthood laws that hit me out of left field.
I guess I never really thought about it - constantly means constantly - and constantly lasts a long time! In early parenthood, I went through a period where I was truly overwhelmed by these demands - embarrassing to admit even, because I had lots of support!
The thing is - I can really "get" the mother in this case wanting to chill in the sun with her friends and let an older child keep tabs on the baby. What I don't get is following through on that desire while the kids are IN A WAVE POOL.
If I had a penny for every time I wanted to do something but didn't or couldn't because of my children, I'd be a millionaire!
As you and others have pointed out, sometimes things happen and kids slip away. I have an endless supply of empathy for parents who find themselves in that situation....but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
I just keep thinking of my 4-year-old unvested and unsupervised in a public wave pool and it gives me the shivers...
Gosh Nova ... do you know how many schools are down here??
Besides I only went to middle school there ... I don't even know the names of the HS's
I just keep thinking of my 4-year-old unvested and unsupervised in a public wave pool and it gives me the shivers...
The middle school had the same name. (As my hat.)
When I was a kid, it was nationally famous, experimental school (often ranked in lists of top 10 high schools), but over the years, the Broward County School Board put a stop to that.
(The school is in Davie, but in the early days it was county-wide and we were bused there from all over Broward.)
I went to Hollywood Hills...and Broward County was where I guarded. I've re-read my posts...and I'm sorry they sound so intense..water safety is the one thing I'm fanatical about. Glad you guys agree! =) Stay safe this summer...always hire a guard for pool parties..it's worth it.
Excellent suggestion!!! Even though I consider myself to be extremely water safety conscious I really don't think to hire a guard for a private pool party would have occurred to me.
That way someone is watching the water with complete attention to just injury and drowning 100% of the time...when parents try to discipline around the pool, have to re-apply sunscreens, etc...those moments are your danger windows.
You have that safety net just in case. (Not too expensive.. I used to do it for around 15-20 per hour...depending on the family's financial situation) . (The county paid $16 an hour..that was 4/5 years ago).
Its a great idea!!
I don't have a pool LOLOL
I do live on the beach though So its a thought I will certainly consider if I ever have a party there