Anyone else find the idea of their DC going into water unsupervised, terrifying (this contains content people might find upsetting)

[Bitethehandthatfeedsyou]

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/beckenham-place-park-shut-boy-missing-water-b1220844.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crldnkjg600o

I just find these so upsetting and terrifying how something can go so horribly wrong so quickly. I live really near BPP and have swum in the lake and it's always felt really safe. There were so many school kids around yesterday as was such a beautiful day and it's so awful how these things happen so quickly and devastatingly. Those poor children and families.

I think the point of my post is that I have teens and sometimes their lack of thinking about consequences and doing this sort of thing when I am not around really scares me.

Yes it is absolutely terrifying. It’s in teens natures to think ‘it won’t happen to me’ but it happens to a good few every year.

I felt exactly the same and still do although my children are in their 20s now.
I remember my son at around 18 telling me him and his friends were swimming in the local river. It’s terrifying.
I made them have swimming lessons until they passed every grade. They’re very confident in water and maybe too confident.

It's very understandable, the only thing that you can do is teach them to swim early and how to look for a safe place to swim if swimming in the wild, that's often where these incidents occur because of hidden dangers.
It's the same as being road safe, all you can do is teach them.
It happened near me a few years ago, again a teenager enjoying the early warm weather got into difficulty, now there is a lifebouy and information on the side of the pool.
As far as I know the group didn't realise how deep and that there was a fast undercurrent, if they did maybe they would have swam elsewhere.

My oldest is 9 and doesn't go places by herself yet. We were talking about this last night. She is a good swimmer and loves the water but has mainly swum in swimming pools. I was explaining to her how different the sea/lake/river can be. She understood it, but I worry about the peer pressure (and lure of the water on a hot day!) when she is old enough to go out alone. I plan to keep discussing it with my kids each summer.

My son isn’t a great swimmer and sometimes does such irresponsible things just because he’s 15. I don’t know why this has struck such a chord (except the tragedy of children dying at such young ages).

I know the place, a beautiful wild swimming area which is very popular with swimmers.
It usually has lifeguards etc when the season opens etc.
So sad to hear this news

People can drown in a bath, swimming pool, ponds, rivers anywhere there is water, supervised or not, and being a strong swimmer does not mean people won't drown

Unfortunately DC in the UK have very limited acess to open water and are never really taught water safety properly or experienced the trappings before they end fatal. Except those who live by the sea with regular swimming, surfing etc.

Add some teenage provado and disaster strikes.

With climate change (longer, hotter summers) we might have more acess to open water and teach DC from an early age what is safe and what not.

I know, it would have been really busy yesterday because of the lovely weather and still this poor boy lost his life.

Once children can swim confidently in a pool it’s important they experience swimming in lakes, rivers and the sea under supervision so that currents, tides and different conditions don’t shock and panic them.

I was always a worrier when my DD was a teen and hanging out with friends on the beach, they all had paddle boards and stuff down there and we do get some serious incidents due to the currents with a a young lad on a school trip sadly drowning a couple of years ago.

I was talking to dh last night about the two utter tragedies this week and those poor children. Maybe it's time Kier brought back those public information ads we got back in the 80s.

We live in a area where there's a lot of wild swimming. I am petrified dd goes into the water with friends and something happens. I've spoken to her about it, she's had swimming lessons but still kids will be kids.

So so sad 🙁

We live on the north sea coast, DS did all his swimming badges and has done safe swimming stuff with the RNLI.
He is very aware of rip tides and cold water shock.
He and his friends have swum in the sea for years and I'm as confident as I can be they are safe swimmers. They often comment on "idiots" in the sea who don't follow the rules

There was an awful case near me years ago where there was a family party happening on a sunny Saturday afternoon but also a big match on tv. All the adults were inside watching the match and one of the children was later found drowned outside in the paddling pool. She was 7or 8 so not a toddler but she had a flouncy party dress or a dress up dress on (I can't remember the exact details). She had fallen in and got stuck due to the outfit and possibly panicked and drowned. She was able to swim very well but just got caught awkwardly. It was a completely freak accident but It's absolutely terrified me and I now dread paddling pools .

That is so sad.

With the Beckenham one I just read the boy was just 15. Just awful.

It's terribly sad. I swim outdoors throughout the year and I think people don't understand quite how cold the water can be even on a sunny day. My heart breaks for that poor family.

It's really tragic of course, and for their family and all the park staff who will have been working. What a waste.

The lake was closed at the time- it's still winter swimming season where you are supposed to have done a winter induction as the water is still very cold. The child would have had to scale the fence- essentially break in. It's very well warned and signed and has a shallow beach entrance.

So it's not that something happened during a public swim time. It's really incumbent that parents make sure they have explained to their DC why those rules are there as you can't watch teens the whole time- the lake has had ongoing problems with gangs of teens breaking in and overwhelming the staff on hot sunny days, and the council has put security in sometimes. We could do with more public information films like in the 70s on some of these risks, including what to do if you fall into cold water, and bollockings from the local constabulary in the local schools.

We use that lake a lot, and from April the DC will be in winter weight wetsuits for another couple of months because it's really not somewhere you'd be in for long otherwise (the rule of thumb is 1 minute for every degree).

This worries me too as a mum of a teenage boy. It's one of the things I've dinned in to them over and over again though - and was pleasantly surprised when chatting about them going pier jumping this week that they had 2 spotters in the water all the time, and checked the surface temp and the deeper temperature before anyone started jumping in. Still didn't wear their wetsuits though so not totally sensible!
Round us the inland waters are much riskier/colder than the beach/sea and not swimming in reservoirs is one of my (very few) non negotiables.

Yes, I drill it into mine to never go near water after a local tragedy