Do Kids Flotation Devices Increase risk of Drowning?

You may have heard claims that life vests like puddle jumpers can give kids a false sense of security that actually increases the risk of drowning. Some blogs, swim coaches and parents are spreading that message online.

But today we're going to separate feelings from facts so that you leave here with the truth which can help you keep your child safe!

You may have heard claims that life vests like puddle jumpers can give kids a false sense of security that actually increases the risk of drowning. Some blogs, swim coaches and parents are spreading that message online.

But today we're going to separate feelings from facts so that you leave here with the truth which can help you keep your child safe!

WHY DO PARENT'S NOT TRUST KIDS FLOTATION?

At the beginning of the year, I did an interview about water safety with a mom. Who was growing her blog, who admitted to me in the interview that she was completely against using life vest on her kids.

I asked her why. She told me a story about a little boy who drowned at a pool birthday party. She said that little boy was wearing his life vest to help him swim at the beginning of the party. 

And when they got out of the water for cake and opening presents they took off this life vest.

As soon cake and present time was over, the little boy rushed back to the pool and jumped in. But this time without his flotation.

The little boy ended up tragically drowning. 

The mom I interviewed said she felt as if the lifevest gave this boy a false sense of security. That the vest caused him to overestimate his abilities and when he jumped back in the water, he drown.

I've come across this same line of thinking many other times. From blogs, parents, and even other coaches as reasons why kids should absolutely never be put kids in life vests. 

This story and reaction it's a perfect example of the kind of gut reaction that comes when you don't have enough information, and you don't know the truths about why kids drown.

THE ONE REASON DROWNINGS HAPPEN AT THE POOL

Almost all drowning that happen when the child is known to be at the pool or swimming happens for only one reason: improper supervision.

If you want to make sure your child doesn't drown, this is the one thing you have to make sure you're doing right. And that means you need to stay within arms reach of your child at all times when you're at or in the pool. No exceptions.

Here's the reality swimming lessons and flotation can't and won't drown proof your child. Kids who are strong swimmers die every year because of drowning. 

Now being a strong swimmer will absolutely lower your child's risk, but their skill is never a substitute for the kind of supervision we're recommending.

Nowhere in the drowning research, do we find it life vests are the cause of a child drowning or is it even suggested that life vest can increase your child's risk of drowning.

But on the flip side, many drowning prevention organizations, including the American Red Cross* actually list life vests as part of the recommended layers of protection, which are things known to reduce a child's risk of drowning.

Recommended Layers of Protection

The Red Cross recommends five important layers of protection: Supervision, Barriers, Lifevests, Swimming Lessons, & in CPR.

If we're being honest, completely honest, the truth about why that little boy drowned has nothing to do with the lifevests giving him a false sense of security that led him to misjudge his abilities and jump in the pool.

The little boy drowned because of lack of supervision. And we know it is hard. Kids are all over the place and hard to keep track of. Which is why we, as parents, need to be extra vigilant.

Lifevests don't trick kids in developing a false sense of security that increases the risk of drowning by getting them to misjudge their own abilities.

Young kids already do this on their own. Research shows us that kids overestimate their own abilities well beyond what they can actually knew. I'm sure you've seen your kids do this.

Kids are not good judges of their own physical abilities & when you pair that with their natural curiosity, it's no wonder that kids from 1 to 5 years old are at the greatest risk of drowning.

You deserve to know the facts about drowning

I want to be honest with you because you can only prevent your child from drowning when you know the facts and you act on them.

It is your choice as parents whether or not to use life vest with your kids, they're your kids.

But life vests, aren't something to be scared of.

Kids don't drown from life vests. When a child drowns, who was known to be at the pool or swimming at the time, they're drowning with very few exceptions is almost always the result of improper supervision.

As a coach, I've personally used life vest to teach thousands of kids, how to I've trained coaches on how to use them to teach over 300,000 and swimming lessons and honestly, using life best to teach kids how to swim makes it so easy that anybody can do it. And that's why we've got parents across the country, teaching their kids to swim with life vests with amazing success.

Our Recommended Life Vest

You can check out this link to see which vest we use at our swim school to help our kids learn to swim faster.

Safer Swimming,

The SwimAble Team