5 Water Safety Tips for Toddlers

Splashing around in water is such a fun and cooling experience for little ones, especially with Singapore’s all year round summer-like weather. Swimming is good for their health, but may cause accidents if not properly supervised by an adult. Apart from teaching the basics of swimming, what else can we do to keep our kids safe in the water?

Here are five tips from swim-school teachers who handle infant swimming classes.

1. Start Early: Children can be enrolled at a swimming program as early as their sixth month, when their immune system have sufficiently developed to cope with public pools. However, parents can start “home-schooling” their children even earlier by making bath time a fun and learning experience.

Introduce fun water play in the bath by playing with water, drizzling water over your baby’s head, and just enjoying the splash. Prolonged fun bath time with your baby makes your toddler accustomed to water, preparing them for advanced swimming lessons in the future.

2. Invest in Swim Lessons: Once your little one is old enough, formal swimming lessons will make him or her feel comfortable in a pool environment. Here, he can begin learning about proper water breathing and the basics of water safety in a systematic way. It is also an opportunity for you to bond closely with your kid, as well as meet other parents.

3. Be on the Watch: Although your kid already knows how to swim, that doesn’t make him ‘drown-proof.’ Remember that over 70% of child drowning cases are caused with inadequate adult supervision. So whether or not your child already knows how to swim, it’s still very important that you keep an eye on him whenever he’s in or near the water.

4. Safeguard Pool Environment: If going to a public pool or you have your own swimming pool at home, make sure to have child safety barriers or self-closing gates. Likewise, keep away objects around the pool area that might cause accidents, such as potted plants, tree branches, pool pumps, and grillers. Remove any temptation for your kid to get into the water by clearing out pool toys when not in use.

5. Secure Water Containers: Of course, you also need to take safety measures around your home. Keep the bath tub empty, cover fish ponds and other water features, empty buckets and pails, and make sure toilets have safety locks. It would also be great to restrict your toddler from accessing areas like laundries and bathrooms.

Knowledge is very important in water safety. Enrolling your child in a swimming class and constantly upgrading your safety skills will ensure that you and your little one is safe around water at all times.