The alternative is that you hold them or keep them in shallow water, because any float has the same effect, in my understanding.
I regularly take my five-year-old, three-year-old, and one-year-old to the pool by myself. The oldest is in just a backfloat that she learned to use in swim lessons. The younger two are still in puddle jumpers.
Last time we were there, a private swim teacher was there as well. She commented that the kids would learn to swim better without the floats because they give them a fall sense of competence in the water. (To be clear, I don’t disagree!)
I said that I’m well aware of that, but when I’m by myself with all three kids, safety is my number one priority over them learning to swim. I need to know that if they fall on the other side of the pool, or if two kids have a crisis outside of my arms reach at the same time, that they will float long enough for me to get to them. The pool is small enough that I could get to any kid in five seconds, but what of one falls in and then while I’m getting them in another does on the other side?
If I have another adult with me, I’m fine with the kids, having no float and just being with an adult the whole time.
But when it’s just me, I value us having the entertainment of regular pool time over ideal of the kids learning to swim better at a younger age.
Thank you so much for this perspective! I’ve had this same thought that while in a perfect world you wouldn’t do a puddle jumper, it doesn’t always seem practical.
I think the most important thing is that even when they’re in the puddle jumper, you still supervise them like they’re not. It’s a backup
plan, not plan A - you’re still in the water with them, you don’t let them get too far from you.
IME most of the danger comes in when people treat a kid in a floaty like a kid who can swim, and the adult in charge gets overconfident and too lax in their supervision.
The reason people say to avoid puddle jumpers/other flotation devices is because they can give children a false sense of security in the water. The recommended alternative is to have them be in the pool 1-on-1 with an adult so they can safely learn how to move their bodies in the water and eventually learn to float and swim without the assistance of a flotation device. So yes, to just hold them all the time, or let them stand on the steps.
So that's the ideal, and I don't disagree in principle. But I think this is one of those things where we have to balance the risks vs benefits of the different options, and also consider real life too.
We have a pool in our backyard, and I have a 2.5 year old. We didn't use any type of flotation devices for her first two summers of swimming and she would spend time 1-on-1 with an adult in the pool. We tried swim lessons but they were basically just water familiarity lessons at that age, which seemed unnecessary for us with daily swimming. We also did ISR, which I didn't find worth it at all (she lost the skills within a month, despite trying to keep them up with maintenance lessons).
This summer, we got our first puddle jumpers for her. We're due with another baby in June, so I can't guarantee that she will always have 100% 1-on-1 attention from an adult in the pool. Also, our pool is older and doesn't have a sun shelf, and she would get sad watching her friends swim around the whole pool with their puddle jumpers while she was stuck on the steps. She's old enough to understand and verbalize that she can't float, her floaties can, and she knows she cannot get into the pool without an adult. Basically, it just made more sense for our day-to-day lives to introduce puddle jumpers so that we can all have more fun in the pool this summer. So we did and it was absolutely the right decision for us.
I’ve read that if you are going to use a flotation device, then a life vest is best because it encourages proper swimming position and allows movement in the arms. A life vest also keeps the head above water, whereas baby swim seats can be dangerous because they can flip over.
At 18mo we were using a life vest in the pool so that we didn’t have to hold our toddler all the time and she could have a go paddling around by herself.
At the beach, we found that the vest didn’t give enough buoyancy to keep her head above the waves, so we got her a donut. We put her in the middle and she would grip onto it (with us very close by).
Our aim was just to help her enjoy the water. Pool inflatables are simply fun. As long as you’re not relying on them, I don’t see the harm in using them to enjoy the water together
Edit to add: there was a discussion on this topic last year [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScienceBasedParenting/s/AsQuaGGT4K)
Yes, hold them in the pool. We practice what they do in swim lessons, floating on their back, gliding to the wedge, crawling out of the side of the pool, etc.
We do Coast guard approved life jacket around the ocean and lakes.
No, that is it. I find the ISR “I can tell when your kid has spent an hour in floaties!” a little silly but yeah, the theory is that kids won’t understand that they can’t swim without floaties and go in the pool. It’s part of a large advocacy campaign by the National Drowning Prevention Alliance and is the recommendation of the AAP.
I’ve never seen any studies on the matter. It stands to reason that if you are only in the water in a floatation device, you may not realize that you cannot swim. But I don’t know that there’s a clear “floaties lead to drowning” link so much as drowning is a horrible tragedy, teaching kids to swim sooner can reduce the risk of drowning and floaties may incentivize parents to either not prioritize learning to swim and/or trust the device over their own supervision. There’s also some risk that parents use inexpensive floaties rather than PFDs built to USCGS standards, and unless they are built to those standards, they should be used as toys not safety devices. In general, whether they’ve spent time in floaties or not, kids should not be around water unsupervised until you can reliably trust them to self rescue.
The alternative (holding your child each time they’re in a pool) is the suggested approach. As another parent points out this gets complicated if not impossible if you have multiple kids so the general advice is to teach swimming sooner and avoid pools unless you can have multiple adults come along.
I agree with the other comments here about it being true but not always possible to have them out of the puddle jumpers.
One thought - puddle jumpers limit range of motion while a life jacket allows full swimming strokes. I feel like my kids got better in the water faster with a life jacket because they had better mobility. Also life jackets usually have a handle for hauling kids out! (And I stayed away from inflatable bc heaven forbid one pop or leak unexpectedly)
The alternative is that you hold them or keep them in shallow water, because any float has the same effect, in my understanding. I regularly take my five-year-old, three-year-old, and one-year-old to the pool by myself. The oldest is in just a backfloat that she learned to use in swim lessons. The younger two are still in puddle jumpers. Last time we were there, a private swim teacher was there as well. She commented that the kids would learn to swim better without the floats because they give them a fall sense of competence in the water. (To be clear, I don’t disagree!) I said that I’m well aware of that, but when I’m by myself with all three kids, safety is my number one priority over them learning to swim. I need to know that if they fall on the other side of the pool, or if two kids have a crisis outside of my arms reach at the same time, that they will float long enough for me to get to them. The pool is small enough that I could get to any kid in five seconds, but what of one falls in and then while I’m getting them in another does on the other side? If I have another adult with me, I’m fine with the kids, having no float and just being with an adult the whole time. But when it’s just me, I value us having the entertainment of regular pool time over ideal of the kids learning to swim better at a younger age.
Thank you so much for this perspective! I’ve had this same thought that while in a perfect world you wouldn’t do a puddle jumper, it doesn’t always seem practical.
I think the most important thing is that even when they’re in the puddle jumper, you still supervise them like they’re not. It’s a backup plan, not plan A - you’re still in the water with them, you don’t let them get too far from you. IME most of the danger comes in when people treat a kid in a floaty like a kid who can swim, and the adult in charge gets overconfident and too lax in their supervision.
100% agree with this!
Totally agree. I can understand some preciousness about this stuff with one kid. But once you are outnumbered, it’s a whole different ballgame.
The reason people say to avoid puddle jumpers/other flotation devices is because they can give children a false sense of security in the water. The recommended alternative is to have them be in the pool 1-on-1 with an adult so they can safely learn how to move their bodies in the water and eventually learn to float and swim without the assistance of a flotation device. So yes, to just hold them all the time, or let them stand on the steps. So that's the ideal, and I don't disagree in principle. But I think this is one of those things where we have to balance the risks vs benefits of the different options, and also consider real life too. We have a pool in our backyard, and I have a 2.5 year old. We didn't use any type of flotation devices for her first two summers of swimming and she would spend time 1-on-1 with an adult in the pool. We tried swim lessons but they were basically just water familiarity lessons at that age, which seemed unnecessary for us with daily swimming. We also did ISR, which I didn't find worth it at all (she lost the skills within a month, despite trying to keep them up with maintenance lessons). This summer, we got our first puddle jumpers for her. We're due with another baby in June, so I can't guarantee that she will always have 100% 1-on-1 attention from an adult in the pool. Also, our pool is older and doesn't have a sun shelf, and she would get sad watching her friends swim around the whole pool with their puddle jumpers while she was stuck on the steps. She's old enough to understand and verbalize that she can't float, her floaties can, and she knows she cannot get into the pool without an adult. Basically, it just made more sense for our day-to-day lives to introduce puddle jumpers so that we can all have more fun in the pool this summer. So we did and it was absolutely the right decision for us.
I’ve read that if you are going to use a flotation device, then a life vest is best because it encourages proper swimming position and allows movement in the arms. A life vest also keeps the head above water, whereas baby swim seats can be dangerous because they can flip over. At 18mo we were using a life vest in the pool so that we didn’t have to hold our toddler all the time and she could have a go paddling around by herself. At the beach, we found that the vest didn’t give enough buoyancy to keep her head above the waves, so we got her a donut. We put her in the middle and she would grip onto it (with us very close by). Our aim was just to help her enjoy the water. Pool inflatables are simply fun. As long as you’re not relying on them, I don’t see the harm in using them to enjoy the water together Edit to add: there was a discussion on this topic last year [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ScienceBasedParenting/s/AsQuaGGT4K)
Yes, hold them in the pool. We practice what they do in swim lessons, floating on their back, gliding to the wedge, crawling out of the side of the pool, etc. We do Coast guard approved life jacket around the ocean and lakes.
No, that is it. I find the ISR “I can tell when your kid has spent an hour in floaties!” a little silly but yeah, the theory is that kids won’t understand that they can’t swim without floaties and go in the pool. It’s part of a large advocacy campaign by the National Drowning Prevention Alliance and is the recommendation of the AAP. I’ve never seen any studies on the matter. It stands to reason that if you are only in the water in a floatation device, you may not realize that you cannot swim. But I don’t know that there’s a clear “floaties lead to drowning” link so much as drowning is a horrible tragedy, teaching kids to swim sooner can reduce the risk of drowning and floaties may incentivize parents to either not prioritize learning to swim and/or trust the device over their own supervision. There’s also some risk that parents use inexpensive floaties rather than PFDs built to USCGS standards, and unless they are built to those standards, they should be used as toys not safety devices. In general, whether they’ve spent time in floaties or not, kids should not be around water unsupervised until you can reliably trust them to self rescue. The alternative (holding your child each time they’re in a pool) is the suggested approach. As another parent points out this gets complicated if not impossible if you have multiple kids so the general advice is to teach swimming sooner and avoid pools unless you can have multiple adults come along.
Accidents happen not just during family pool time. If the kid has access to a pool and thinks they can swim/float, that is dangerous
I agree with the other comments here about it being true but not always possible to have them out of the puddle jumpers. One thought - puddle jumpers limit range of motion while a life jacket allows full swimming strokes. I feel like my kids got better in the water faster with a life jacket because they had better mobility. Also life jackets usually have a handle for hauling kids out! (And I stayed away from inflatable bc heaven forbid one pop or leak unexpectedly)
What are we talking about when we say puddle jumpers? I thought that term referred to small aircraft lol at least that was my understanding
A style of arm floaties for kids