Do you let your kids go on inflatables in the sea?

[SnugglyJumpersMakeItBetter]

I have second-hand trauma from watching this:

The fact that dad was literally RIGHT THERE with them and they were just playing in the shallows and then, Whoosh, gone. It's crazy.

Nope and I wasn't allowed as a child. So when my aunts took me to the beach whe. I was 6 I lept on the chance to float. And I did float way out and the lifeguards had to rescue me. I could hardly swim either, but thought I could.
Inflatables are for pool only.

Never.
I live by the sea, this week a man sadly drowned when he was swept off his feet.
It's too easy to get taken out even if you know about tides etc. Inflatables are for the pool

Never.

Definitely not. We were on the beach in Dorset earlier this summer, a couple of kids near us were playing with an inflatable in the shallows, they let go of it for a couple of of minutes and it was way out to sea when they noticed. Thankfully the adult with them had the sense to tell them it had gone too far and it wasn't safe for anyone to go after it. It was incredible how fast it moved.

No!

I'm so relieved to read so many No's to this question.

Absolutely not, far too dangerous.

In a couple of very specific sheltered at low/mid tide bays yes (think more like a pool than open sea due to rocks). They're close to where we live and we swim there regularly. Even then I check tide times and heights carefully and one of us is always in the water too.
Everywhere else no.
Dh and his siblings set sail on an inflatable turtle once (1980s) and whilst they all survived, they certainly didn't make landfall particularly close to where they set off. The coastguard and police were involved and I think they made the local paper.

Absolutely not - I was brought up 20 minutes from the sea and this was drummed into me.

Yes a dinghy on the end of a short securely tied line. Mostly we ran through the surf pulling them behind us. They loved it.

I was only allowed tyres to ride waves and that was with a parent stood in front of me with feet touching the floor. I don’t let my kids use inflatables in the sea but in all honesty, they’re not huge seawater fans and prefer the pool.

A generation ago as a child yes, on an inflatable boat, though always VERY closely supervised. I don't have an inflatable boat and would not allow my kids on anything (else?) at sea. In the pool, supervised, absolutely.

We have an inflatable paddle board and kayak which we use in the sea, but no to inflatable rings, lilos etc

Christ no!

Strangely this has brought up what must have been a suppressed memory of my dad putting me in a tethered dingy on the beach at Filey in the 70s. The rope broke and it shot out to sea so quickly with a gust of wind. I remember being scared, and barely being able to even see the beach, but not what happened afterwards. I’ve just messaged my dad to ask!

Definitely not

No, my family used to go to the East coast every summer when I was a child. The beach had a creek, which was ok when the tide was out. However it created a dangerous current, when the tide was going in. We knew, not to swim in the sea near the creek, but it made me realise how currents can be dangerous on a beach, you don’t know well - and children on inflatables are an accident waiting to happen!

Someone drowned a few weeks ago on an inflatable on that beach.

No. Never have, never will. I do remember bobbing around in giant rubber rings when I was young and dumb, but wouldn't now.

I was on a quiet beach with DH once, and we noticed a little kid get in an inflatable dingy. I think we both had the same though at the same time and we watched with horror as it came true when smoothly and quickly the boat moved along the shore and diagonally OUT. We were on our feet by now hoping to see a swift parent rescue but they weren't to be seen and DH started running towards the sea. He was overtaken by a guy we hadn't previously seen absolutely sprinting down the beach. He flew into the water and grabbed the boat but it was metres out and and chest depth by then. DH helped him land it. It turns out the guy was a local just walking along the beach but he knew the tides and currents (surfer) and started running as soon as he saw the kid get in the boat. When they finally turned up the gormless parents seemed totally bemused as he explained that to them and gave them the dire warnings that in minutes the kid could be half a mile out and politely but very firmly told them to never let that happen again. He was a that kid's hero, but the idiot parents never even knew it.

Oh I thought this was going to be about those Wibit assault courses.

No to lilos etc. Not in the sea.

I literally have nothing idea why they are allowed to be sold at uk seaside places. It is never safe to use them. Dmum lives in Somerset and there were 2 littleies swept a mile out to sea from Minehead beach
It was a miracle that they did not drown. Yet still they are sold.

No never

we were never allowed to and that is back in the 70/80's

Absolutely not. We saw one last year while on holiday drift out to sea. Thankfully nobody was on it, but it was a really good example for both DDs to see how easily it is to be swept away. They know inflatables are only for the pool.

No. And i don't let them play with loaded guns or rat poison either.

We live near the coast and we’re out on the beach yesterday morning walking the dogs. There was an offshore wind and we watched as some kids lost their inflatable beach ball in the wind down into the sea. The mother said to leave it, she’d get it and in her swimmers started out to fetch it. Within a minute, a MINUTE, the ball was already 30m from the beach, and within two minutes it was totally unreachable by a swimming person. It was only a ball, and she sensibly gave up. But if that had been a lilo with a kid on….gone.

Absolutely not. I grew up by the sea (Bristol Channel) and was never allowed an inflatable other than my armbands in the pool. My DDs are in their early 20s now but when they were older teens and competent swimmers and surfers I'd allow an inflatable paddleboard but only on a beach with lifeguards, in the appropriate area between the flags if DH or I was on the beach watching - and even then I preferred a surf board.

Absolutely not.