Tips to keep children safe in and around water | Families

It looks like the weather might cooperate this Memorial Day weekend (fingers crossed), which means many of you will be pulling the covers off your swimming pools. May is National Water Safety Month and the unofficial start of the swimming season. Design Pool & Spa has some tips for  families to make sure their children are safe in and around pools and spas.

“As the summer swimming season quickly approaches, our message to parents and children is simple: stay safe in and around pools and spas by practicing as many safety steps as possible. Following these simple steps, improving behaviors, upgrading equipment and learning a few new skills is not such a big task when it comes to having a safe and fun summer,” said Patty Bednarcyk, owner of Design Pool & Spa, Ltd.

Here are some pool and spa safety tips:

• Always watch your children when they are in or near a pool or spa.  Never take your eyes off children in the water. Designate a pool watcher and practice “touch supervision” with children under the age of 5. This means that an adult is within arm’s length of the child at all times.

• Learn how to swim and teach your child how to swim, but don’t rely on swimming lessons, life preservers or other equipment to make children water safe. Nothing replaces adult supervision.

• Don’t leave items out, such as toys, which might attract a child into the pool and pool area.

• Install a fence around the perimeter of the pool that is at least four feet in height. Use self-closing and self-latching gates. Install alarms that can be heard inside the house and other areas away from the pool that will sound when a child has entered the pool perimeter.

• Never use a pool with its cover partially in place, since children may become trapped under it. Always remove the cover completely.

• Keep children away from broken pool drains, pipes and other openings to avoid entrapment. Ensure all pools and spas have compliant drain covers.

• If a child is missing, always look in the pool first. Seconds count in preventing death or disability.

Melissa Campbell is a Public Relations Specialist for Pulse Marketing Group in Fairport. You can contact her at melissa@pulsemarketinggroup.com