Having a pool in your backyard should be a relaxing and beneficial addition to your home and lifestyle. The key to enjoying your backyard pool, especially as a parent to younger children, is to do so safely and responsibly. Many swimming pool related accidents are often avoidable circumstances. Here are a few tips to help keep your backyard pool a safe addition to your home.
Consider a barrier and alarm for your swimming pool for small children
There are many different pool fences and barriers that you can install around your pool. These often include self latching and self closing gates which saves you the worry of whether or not you remembered to close them. Pool alarms come in a wide array of options.
- There are fence or wall mounted alarms: These are designed to run atop the perimeter of the wall or fence surrounding your pool and use infrared beams to detect movement or magnetic connections that set off an alarm when broken.
- Pool mounted infrared detectors and underwater motion alarms: These alarms will actually tell you when someone is physically in the water.
- Floating motion sensors: They are surface-based motion alarms and are popular because they are relatively inexpensive and work well when a calm, flat surface is disturbed.
Supervise children around the pool area
Be sure to keep close supervision over your children when they are around the pool. This includes not leaving children unattended and being present when you are supervising them. You can have an alarm installed simply on the back door so that it will go off when someone opens it, and you’ll know if a child has slipped out into the backyard so that you can monitor them.
Teach children water safety
If you have a backyard pool, the children in your house should really know some basic water safety tips. If they’re old enough, formal swimming lessons can help from a very young age. It’s a good idea to establish some house rules surrounding the use of your pool that can help keep everyone safe. Explaining the dangers age appropriately to children can go a long way as well.
Be Prepared
It’s a good idea to have a plan in case of emergency. Knowing CPR is beneficial and having a first aid kit handy is important as well.
Having a pool is a great addition to the family home. You can build countless memories and enjoy a slice of paradise in your own backyard. Pool safety for families can only add to the positive experiences. If you are considering building a pool, or if you have any questions about pool safety, please leave a comment below!