Well, maybe not toddlers but 2 x 3½ year old boys so a tad beyond toddling but still stupid enough to do something…well…stupid. They both swim like something that can’t really swim but they sure like being in a pool!

So how does everyone approach it?

I try my best not to helicopter ours. Honestly! But, and maybe this stems from spending a lot of time on building sites where H&S is frankly, shite, I can be a bit H&S at times myself. I’m so used to having to identify dangers for myself, I see them for others too. 😳 (It is me that lets him ride his balance bike and scooter without a helmet sometimes – mrs DD…not so relaxed. 🙂 )

We’ll be renting a villa/house/cottage in Mallorca this summer with friends – they own the other 3½ year old. From photos on the sites we’ve perused, it looks like there isn’t much fencing around pools. So would you, despite being Mr/Mrs Relaxed most of the time, spend your holiday worrying about the pool? We may be renting a bit inland to save some ££ as anything near the beach + not a shithole can get quite pricey. Thinking if we’re away from the beach, a pool would be nice.

Or would you say “Stop being a fanny. They’ll be fine.”?

Stop being a fanny, they’ll be fine.

Book them a couple of weeks intense swimming lessons before you go.

They’ll only do it once 😆

Thing is, we’ve only got one. It’s not like we’ve got a spare to fall back on if the worst happens.

Oh. Armbands?

On a more serious note – a mate has twins and him and his lady wife started taking their boys to villas with pools from 3 onwards and they got on ok.

We’ve done villas with pools with our young lads and nephews. Over the years we’ve had 3 inpromptu pool entries by none swimmers. All fished out very rapidly and no harm done. Couple of words of warning though….proper drowning of a non swimmer is QUIET. They go under and stay under. You’ve only got one chance to hear or see them go in.

Second…even if you think your nipper is too sensible and/or too scared to go in, you can’t mitigate against siblings/cousins pushing them.

In summary, you need to know where your kids are at all times, or get a place with a fenced pool.

I have no advice on the above, but do remember one thing…

Your friend’s wife will be there. In a bikini. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT stare at her boobs. No matter how glorious they may be. And, when you then see her back home, do NOT, I repeat do NOT have the thought, “I’ve seen your boobs”.

proper drowning of a non swimmer is QUIET

I watched a film once about drowning – it was scarily nothing like what you see in the movies 😯

*goes off to have a look at ROSPA’s website*

Someone always watches the kids by the pool – nothing more difficult than that.
TBH with our two I was more concerned about all the hard landscaping / pointy edges than risk of drowning.

Someone by the pool at all times when the lads are out and about would do for me.
To add to CFH comments, no sneaky pics either!

Someone always watches the kids by the pool – nothing more difficult than that.

That’s about it.

My parents have a pool, no fencing around it, and relatively easy to access for the small ones. There’s always someone watching the kids and/or the pool.

To add to CFH comments, no sneaky pics either!

Unless you share them with us. Pics of the wife’s glorious shirt potatoes, obviously.

Oh, and DD, best get working on teh abz so you don’t have to suck it in around the pool.

Shorten their chain

Ours are pretty water savvy at 4 and 6 due to a combination of living by the sea, regular swimming since babies and my sensitivity to waters risks from a dinghy accident in my teens.

We will have a pool at our next holiday. No way will either of them be outside unsupervised for even a minute unless it’s securely fenced. The eldest can swim 10m unsupported but I’ll still not being taking any chances.

That aside I don’t see that supervision as being a big chore. It’s only the same as being on the beach really.

Ok, ok…I get that supervision isn’t a chore. I don’t think any of the four of us plans on letting them run wild around the pool while we get trashed on sangria in the kitchen once it’s gone 10am. 🙂

I’m more thinking along the lines of would one spend all one’s time worrying the second they’ve gone out of one’s sight. Reading ROSPA’s section on holiday drownings (yes, there is one) – 30 children under 10 have drowned while on holiday in the last 6 years. So I guess out of the millions that go on holidays, that’s statistically bloody small. Big old statistic for the poor feckers to whom it happened.

Key facts behind these drownings
Toddlers (0 – 3 years) – Two to three years are most at risk. In many cases the toddler wandered away from parents and fell into an unsupervised pool.

Young children (4-5 years) – Some drownings happened after the child was last seen playing in the water, or playing near to water. In many cases parents were unaware of the problem until the child was found in the water (most commonly a hotel swimming pool).

Older children (6-9 years) – In all of these cases the children were swimming.

So I reckon, while at the property, given that a lot of the pools are kinda walk-out-of-cottage-drop-into-pool, it’s best to always have someone keeping an eye on the pool. And make sure that kids can’t get up in the morning and stroll out while everyone’s asleep.

Think I’ll nominate myself to hang by the pool all day with beer in hand. It’s a tough gig. Kinda guy I am I guess.

Speaking of “Oh and…”

Oh, and DD, best get working on teh abz so you don’t have to suck it in around the pool.

That’s some dodgy ground you’ve picked right there O’Flashearty 😉

Dad’s 60th, holiday apartment sleeping 12, private pool, four years ago. We arrived late. Kids very excited wanted to paddle. Down the first two steps but the third was a lot bigger, in and under he went. Swiftly followed by a fully clothed me. He was just 7 but could swim, it was the shock of the big step that caught him out and caused the simple gasp of water to kick it all off. To be fair it set a precident for his whole holiday and would only go in the pool with us after that. Be careful is all I can say.

Before I was born my parents did exactly this with my sisters and another family with similar age kids (3-5 yrs old). All it took was one misunderstanding as to who was monitoring whom and they suddenly realised that nobody knew where my sister was. Despite the pool being gated she had just jumped in the deep-end when my mum fished her out.

Secondly (and much more tragically) friend of a friend’s four year old son was drowned in a similar scenario a couple of years back whilst on holiday in Italy.

I personally wouldn’t go near a pool without a lockable gate. The idea of spending the whole holiday being paranoid about the kids would ruin the holiday for me, let alone the risk of anything else happening.

That aside I don’t see that supervision as being a big chore. It’s only the same as being on the beach really.

Disagree. Firstly you have a deep-end in a swimming pool, most beaches (that I’d take my kids to anyway) tend to shelve reasonably gently. Secondly, the pool is always there, you only need to turn your back for a few seconds.

I can see I’m in the minority on this thread and in truth the odds are firmly that you’ll be absolutely fine, regardless I wouldn’t go anywhere near a villa with an ungated pool

Interestingly, reading wrightyson’s story, also from that ROSPA page:

First and last day – A significant number of the holiday pool drownings are reported to happen on the first or the last day of the holiday. RoSPA believes that parents may be less vigilant because of distractions surrounding arrival at the holiday destination and packing up to go home. Children will be keen to explore at this time and may easily slip away.

Was in our apartment last year when a hysterical wife and child burst through the door. Mrs S had done the wrightyson trick in the hotel pool but holding the eldest. Lots of crying and gibbering but the standout quote: ‘mummy took me to the bottom of the river’.

Seriously though don’t sweat it but take sensible precautions.

HTH.

I wouldn’t stay in a villa with an ungated pool.

If its in spain, the window is probably just a door that opens to nothing 3 floors up anyway. The pool is the least of your worries.

Millions of Spanish children seem to survive, but pools kill more kids than guns. So take a gun with you.

“They go under and stay under. You’ve only got one chance to hear or see them go in”

seen that and very scary – few years ago in Spain 3 year old friend’s kid walked straight past me, as I drank a coffee, and straight into pool then straight down – no coming up – yep my passport dried out ok

here in Victoria Aus’ very strict rules about fences around pools and with good reason

That aside I don’t see that supervision as being a big chore. It’s only the same as being on the beach really.

Disagree. Firstly you have a deep-end in a swimming pool, most beaches (that I’d take my kids to anyway) tend to shelve reasonably gently. Secondly, the pool is always there, you only need to turn your back for a few seconds.

Personally think they are as bad as each other. You rightly make the point about a deep end but I’ve yet to see even a 2foot wave, an offshore wind or a rip current or submerged sharp rock in a pool and there are plenty of beaches with sudden changes in depth that you can’t see. The pool is of course and as you rightly say ever present which is a risk in itself.

The hazards that can lead to the end result of drowning are in part different. I wouldn’t be more relaxed on the beach but I would be concerned about different risks and different ways of controlling them in the two different places. I would treat both with the same air of caution and in neither situation would they be left unsupervised.

I think you may have understandably misunderstood the context of “not a chore”. And rereading I may have not expressed myself very well but what I meant was I don’t see any aspect of ensuring they are safe as a chore it’s a job I signed up for by helping make them but also i want to spend as much time with them as possible before I become just some old fart who drives their taxi….

It’s a tough one and of course personal choice. I would do it but I would also accept that you need to be on point all the time, never letting them out of your sight, and ultimately accept that if you do something could happen ( but then that the same with walking down the street). Depends what you want from your holiday I guess. That chilled beer on the balcony whilst the kids are playing round the back isn’t gonna happen

Took my youngest last year, he Di d nt go out without armbands and keep the doors locked when inside. The unfenced 8ft high retaining walls and brakeless local drivers are more dangerous imo.

As someone who has owned a toddler and cared for a pool (joke for pool owners there – $$$$), OP is absolutely not being unreasonable. A pool without a fence (or way of excluding kids) is dangerous for kids.

https://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/5752/IP_CDRT01_Private-Swimming-Pools.pdf
37 out of 40 kid drownings happened at pools with no or defective fences, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of pools are fenced.

Someone by the pool at all times when the lads are out and about would do for me.

I think the point is that kids bugger off when it’s not “swimming time” and no one is expecting them to be there

France seems much stricter about fencing although that might not be enough of a reason to change destinations. Another option is alarms. The pool might have one even though there is no fence or you can buy travel ones. I think I’m in the it’ll be fine camp but it’d be incredibly shitty to be one of those statistics

Konfidence Floatsuit – Lycra buoyant aid to swimming

Brother in Law used these on all his three kids until they were old enough to deal with falling in a pool themselves.

Not to be used as a replacement for vigilance around the pool though…

France seems much stricter about fencing although that might not be enough of a reason to change destinations. Another option is alarms. The pool might have one even though there is no fence or you can buy travel ones. I think I’m in the it’ll be fine camp but it’d be incredibly shitty to be one of those statistics

+1

I wanted France. I got outvoted 3-1. Flights are booked now so there’s no going back. To be fair, I had an impression that it was tighter in France as one rental agency got back to me saying (and I quote:)

What constitutes a safe pool for you? All pools have to be protected by one of: alarm; cover; fence.

So I don’t know whether the French are safer by choice or by law. I’m guessing it’s by law. Look, I’m not saying it’s a chore to keep watch over the pool but as konabunny says, the little feckers wander off before you even know it.

So yeah, looks like vigilance is the only option. Or no pool.

We went to stay with friends at their place in Portugal – pool, no fences (which was absolutely fine with us, we did swimming lessons from an early age but still a bit of arm band action going on).

Five kids in total all younger than 5 at the time loved being by/in the pool. One day they were playing by the pool without arm bands and one of our twins fell in and sank like a stone. My mate was right next to her at the time and jumped straight in and pulled her up – there was no drama, no crying, all fine.

My advice – let them use the pool as much as they want but only when there is an adult there and keep an eye on them. They’ll be fine.

Used to work as a lifeguard – hadn’t seen anything like that video in my training which would have been handy.

I was looking after the learning pool when a dad and his 2 armbanded kids rocked up. Dad starts teaching smaller of the 2 how to paddle around a bit and the bigger lad strips his armbands off and jumps into the pool as if he had done this a million times before.

I didn’t think much of it.

A minute or so later I got to looking back in the area of the bigger lad and tried to work out what was going on as he was coming up for a breath every 10-20 seconds or so. After 3-4 cycles of this I realised that he was slowly sinking despite his attempts to swim until he reached the bottom when he’d be able to kick up to the surface to catch his breath and then it’ll start all over again. In total silence with nothing to raise my attention.

I walked over and lifted him out, then gave his Dad a shout who was totalled distracted with his other kid all this time.

So when I went on a group family holiday with 4 adults and 3 non-swimmers we had a rule of 1 adult at the pool watching out but when the kids were in the pool it was 1 for 1 supervision.

when the kids were in the pool it was 1 for 1 supervision.

That would be it for me as well. I remember being in a pool with my daughter, turned round to look at my other daughter and when I turned back the first daughter was lying on the bottom of the pool just looking up an me. Just pulled her out of course but completely frightening how quickly it happened.

France seems much stricter about fencing

Because, even though generally they are quite laid back people, they understand how dangerous unfenced pools are.

Personally, I wouldn’t risk it with my kids…………

I thought this was why you take your nanny on holiday?

DD – As a side note if you’re still searching for the destination in Mallorca then Alcudia has an excellent beach for young kids as its incredibly sheltered in the main holiday area and has a very gentle slope into the water.

Get a kids life jacket, ours can both swim now but they’ll be wearing their jackets this summer hol. (Still use close supervision obviously)
Had to fit the youngest’s jacket on back to front last time as he kept trying to take it off – zip at the back sorted!

Bit trickier at night, I guess just make sure the area is completely out of bounds.

Hi,

We went to france last year and whenever my youngest to were in the pool area I made them wear there buoyancy jackets. They were never left unsupervised though. Which I suppose will be the main safety device.

First day last day is very good advice – the last day scenario happened not far from us in France – where the fence/alarm thing has been heavily promoted.
As per most of the above – you need to know where they are all the time if the pool is accesible – any occurence of “where is x ” needs to be avoided.
We fenced off part of the garden so that access to the pool and larger garden was restricted , they are all older and strong swimmers now – we still have one person by the pool when its in use – it helps to make that easy with shade/seating .

How we do the kids+pool thing on our villa holidays is that I pump in two 80 hour weeks of lifeguard duty, in addition to the usual parenting while Mrs-g moans at me for “being such a worrier”. Typically I reckon I save a life once a week on average.