To think DS (4) should wear a life jacket on a canal boat?

[BoyMeetsWorld]

Ok, genuinely looking for your opinions as I freely admit I can be a paranoid Mum.

ExP & his parents regularly take our DS (4) on the family canal boat, sometimes just for short trips sometimes for longer holidays. They actively encourage him to help with the locks etc & he has free run. None of the adults onboard can swim (they never learned) & DS told me today that since he putgrew his infant life jacket 2 years ago they haven't bought him a new one.

Am I being unreasonable to expect him to have (& wear) a life jacket?

Would like your thoughts before I raise it with ExP

[Phineyj]

I actually think the adults should be wearing them too if they can't swim. Falling in while going through a lock is potentially very dangerous.

[rememberingnothing]

When we canoe ALL of us wear life jackets (DDs) or buoyancy aids (DH and I). It's an absolute no brainer.

[Jinty16]

YANBU. I would also be really uncomfortable with the fact that no one on board can swim.

[TimeofChange]

Even with a life jacket on, they must all be vigilant around locks, as he could be pulled down by the water flow.

I didn't realise how dangerous locks can be until after our family canal holiday.

[sukysue]

Don't be daft love definitely get him one .

[stickingattwo]

Lifejacket ASAP - get a good fitting light one, best money you've ever spent. There should be no question. I sail and as a child wore one till teenage and beyond and I have always been a great swimmer. A child should absolutely wear one on a canal boat. Locks can be very dangerous.

[Emilythornesbff]

And that none of the adults can swim.
Really?
Really?
Nutters.

[SwishSwoshSwoosh]

This sounds very risky altogether. What exactly would they do if he fell in?

YANBU, not at all.

[Ingles2]

Yes he should definitely have one.. I can't believe he doesn't! When I was 10 my best friend fell from a canal boat and drowned... I can remember her funeral very clearly and that was 35 years ago... Canal boats still horrify me..
I would refuse to let him go until he had one tbh.

[amyboo]

YANBU! I grew up spenidng holidays on my parents boat and always wore a life jacket when I was little, and then later a harness (a special one that inflated if you hit he water). A child of 4 should definitely be in a lifejacket.

[youbethemummylion]

From a family of sailors here from dinghys to yachts to ocean liners not one of them let my DS anywhere near the jetty never mind the boat without a lifejacket. He MUST wear one!

[exoticfruits]

YANBU - this must be a record- all in agreement!

[FairPhyllis]

Sailor here. You are absolutely not being unreasonable. DO NOT LET HIM GO if he is not going to wear one. And it MUST be a lifejacket, not a buoyancy aid.

Adults can't swim? Child running around canals without a lifejacket? Wtaf.

[TSSDNCOP]

Locks are horrendously risky. I would never let my child near the mechanics of one.

On and around the boat I would still insist on a life jacket.

Frankly, and I say this rarely as I think if a child is in it's DP's care it's that DPs shout on how the DC is managed, I'd go utterly and totally fucking nuts if 3 non swimmers took my child out on a boat without adequate life saving equipment.

Sod the bloody argument with DP. With a close very young relative that drowned, they'd need to dynamite me off the sodding boat first.

Did I mention YANBU?

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

Tbh if no one on the boat can swim or has any concept or rescue procedures/first aid, I wouldn't be letting him go even wearing a life jacket.
He's FOUR, even if he's wearing a life jacket if he goes in he's on his own, how on earth so they think he'd get out?

[katydid02]

Absolutely not unreasonable.

[FairPhyllis]

Just to clarify for anyone reading my post, it is not simply the fact that the adults can't swim that means the child needs a lifejacket. He needs one anyway. But it is an absolutely absurd added level of risk, and OP, you should rip them a new arsehole for taking it.

[ToomuchIsBackOnBootcamp]

I never usually recommend printing off a thread and showing it to ex partners, but in this case, would it help? As I add my voice to the chorus of those saying he definitely should be in a life jacket. Without a single shadow of a doubt. Everyone thinks it won't happen to them. But it could.

[katydid02]

My DCs are learning to be life guards/doing life saving skills training, they are both excellent swimmers. They would wear a life jacket. When doing the open water training all of the coaches on the water in canoes and kayaks wore life jackets despite being surrounded by about 30 people capable of rescuing them.
No life jacket, no water excursions.

[Edendance]

Life jacket not buoyancy aid, anyone can slip.

[MsMunch]

Ynbu, but really I wouldn't let him go with such poor care. One stumble and he would drown, it is so hard to get even a small person back out of the water for a strong swimmer. Someone else here who sails and would never take the risk.

[Edendance]

www.lifejackets.co.uk/products/428/harveys-100n-ce-approved-kids-foam-lifejacket

Job done.

[whois]

I am pretty relaxed about safety, but would def want him wearing a life jacket! V easy to slip in to the dock and with three non swimmers there supervising that would be a disaster!

[MsMunch]

And if he does go I would buy the life jacket myself... So I knew it was a life jacket not a buoyancy aid and that it was correctly sized.

[Ericaequites]

Of course he needs a life jacket at all times when on the boat. When we had a summer cabin on a pond, under sixes had to wear a life jacket even when playing on the dock. Try to buy one with a ruff at back so his head will be supported out of the water. One should not economize on life jackets, parachutes, or spectacles.