Expert issues stark warning to parents over children’s arm bands in the pool
SWIMMING experts have issued a warning to mums and dads, saying children’s arm bands don’t provide as much safety as many of us tend to assume.
The stark warning comes, as parents jet off to soak up the sun with their children, often enjoying a swim in a pool.
A common essential during summer are also arm bands and floaties – but as some experts, Olympic Gold medallists Rowdy Gaines, Franklin Jonson and Cullen Jones, went on to reveal, these can also give us a ”false sense of security”.
Appearing on the Today show, Franklin said: “We’re not here to shame, we’re not here to tell parents they’re doing anything wrong.
”I think the big thing for all of us when it comes to floaties is what they do is they give your child a false sense of security in the water.
“If they’re wearing floaties, they think that they’re safe in the water, so then next time they see a body of water, they might go running towards it, thinking that they are safe.
“If they’ve not had some lessons, if they do not have a water watcher there with them, we really don’t’ want anything horrible to happen.”
She added: “So if you absolutely have to use floaties, do what you have to do, but just know as a parent what that’s doing for your child – and for you as well, for you to know that they’re not safe just because they have a floatation device.”
Rowdy, who leads Step Into Swim, a Pool & Hot Tub Alliance initiative that promotes water safety education, said that floaties were a great tool for getting kids used to water.
However, he added, they shouldn’t be used as a crutch.
“I’m begging parents not to take their eyes off their children when they’re in or around water.”
He went on: “The problem with floaties is that it gives parents a literal false sense of security.
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“You throw your kid in a floatie and think: ‘Oh, that’s all they need.’ It’s really the furthest thing from the truth.”
Instead, the gurus strongly advised signing kids up to swimming lessons – with research showing this will reduce the risk of drowning by a whopping 88 per cent.
That being said, another pro, Natalie Livingston, reminded that just because a child knows how to swim, parents shouldn’t assume there is no risk of drowning.
“We see drownings happen to people who knew how to swim all the time,” she said.
“People can have medical events, can get a cramp, can get tired and can have someone else pull them under.”