Keep Pool Safety Top of Mind for Your Family in Baltimore

It’s happening. Finally, after a winter that felt like it would never end, spring has finally settled in and summer isn’t too far behind. If you have kids in school, that means it’s time to start thinking about different ways to keep them happy and active when summer vacation starts. Swimming can meet all these needs and more, but before you check the opening hours for public pools in Baltimore, let’s take a minute to talk about pool safety.

Pool Safety Basics That Everyone Should Know

Even if you think you know everything you need to about pool safety, it never hurts to refresh your memory and learn new ways to make your summer safer and more enjoyable for everyone in your family.

Before swimming season starts, you can:

• Take CPR or First Aid classes. Ideally, you will never need to use this life-saving skill, but learning CPR now means you can take action immediately to assist someone in need of emergency medical help until advanced emergency medical personnel arrive on scene.
• Enroll all non-swimmers in your family in swimming lessons. Taking formal swimming lessons now can help everyone in your family stay safer this summer, adults and children alike.
• Talk to your children about basic pool safety guidelines.  Make sure that your family has an emergency plan in place so that everyone in your family knows what to do in the event of a water emergency. Ask your kids what they know about pool safety. Make sure they know not to go deeper or farther out than what feels comfortable, not to run near the pool, not go into the water without supervision, and to get out of the water if they start to feel tired.

There are also important practices that you and any other adults in the family can also go over now:

• Never take your eyes off the kids when they’re in or close to the water, even to respond to a text message. Always appoint a designated “Water Watcher” whenever children are in or around a pool. A “Water Watcher” is an adult who is solely tasked with maintaining constant supervision over all children in and around the pool. The “Water Watcher” can be designated with a lanyard or badge so that everyone knows who is responsible for watching the pool at any given time.
• Always look in the water first if you lose sight of your children. Scan the bottom of the pool first, then look around the rest of the pool and pool deck area.
• Learn the visible signs that someone is struggling in the water. Drowning doesn’t look the way most people think it does. Drowning is often silent, with the victim showing little or no struggling at the surface. An active drowning victim may only be at the surface for as little as 20 seconds before submerging.
• Install fences, at least 4 feet high, around all pools. Consider installing pool monitors, which can alert an adult if a child enters or goes near a pool without supervision.

Sign Up for Our Swimming Classes in the Baltimore Area Now

British Swim School Patapsco Valley provides swimming lessons for people of all ages and experience levels all year long. We use fun & gentle methods to help our students develop full water competency in both our water survival & stroke development classes.

To learn more about pool safety or to register for our classes in the Baltimore area, call us today at (410) 695-6200. Our swimming classes are available for those in the local area, including Hanover/Linthicum Heights, Patapsco Valley, Elkridge, Ellicott City, and Catonsville, MD as well as Washington, D.C.