50M pool and almost 12 year old

[LolaLockdale]

DD who'll be 12 this Sunday has just asked if she can go to the outdoor pool in our area, I said I'll think about it but I really can't decide.

7 other girls and 5 boys are going, I only know 3 of the other girls.

By public transport it takes either 2 buses and 30 mins altogether or 1 bus and a walk which would be around 40 mins.

In the summer the outdoor pool is jampacked, the deepest part is 50M, halfway point 25M, their are lifeguards and DD is a strong swimmer but she's never gone to that specific pool without us and I'm worried that something could go wrong.

Am I being too overprotective?

PersianCatLady the op thought that 50m was the depth not the length.
Thanks, I see that now.

Could you imagine how much water it would take to fill up a pool that was that deep though?

Yes. My DD is the same age as yours and, if it's the pool I think it is, she has swum there many times over the last four years or so.

3 metres or 50metres deep, there's equal risk of drowning, unless OP's Dd is 3.2 metres tall, right?? Was OP thinking OP's DD would rapidly sink to 50m depth beyond the lifeguards?

Just read that you've let her go, I hope she has a lovely time :)

When I was her age I went to a swimming pool which had a round diving tank, it was at least 50 metres deep. I saw it once as an adult and I doubt it was even 5 metres
Anybody else who used to live in Swansea in the 70s/80s probably knows the one I mean?

Gosh, at that age I would swim 40 laps without stopping. And the width will be less. She'll be fine

3 meters you have the depth to kick yourself up. In 50 meters there is no chance as you would not get the power to kick yourself up.

Where are all these 50m outdoor pools?! I'd love to live near one.

Cheltenham and Cambridge both have outdoor 50m+ pools.
I think there is one near Aberdeen for the tough Scots who are used to the cold!

In 50 meters there is no chance as you would not get the power to kick yourself up
There is also no chance of someone else being able to dive down and rescue you from that depth if you sank to the bottom.

Let her go.
Your DC's will NOT thank you for wrapping them in cotton wool.
What's the point in her being a strong swimmer if you won't let her swim? It's a pool with lifeguards, it's hardly the English Channel is it?

Persian maybe the life guards are scuba divers?

I hope your daughter had a great time OP.

The outdoor pool where I live is 91m long, it's only 2.5m at its deepest though.

Glad you've let her go OP!

I'm also inspired by all of you happy to let your 8 year olds go swimming without you - DS1 was 8 last week and a really strong swimmer but I can't imagine being able to do that!! I'm not normally an overprotective parent either.......

I know no-one really thinks the pool is 50 metres deep but that depth is quite serious from a scuba diving point of view and cannot be quickly accessed or ascended from due to the pressure exerted by the water.

It would take a few minutes to descend safely without bursting ear drums and unless the OPs DC is a champion free diver, the rescuer would be recovering a body.

It would then take a lot more minutes to ascend safely as the diver would need to stop at a few different depths to decompress.

Most scuba divers aren't qualified to dive to 50 metres, usually 30-35 metres, beyond which it gets a lot more serious, with the potential of narcotics and the bends.

As a kid our local open air pool had two shallow ends two deep sections of 5 to 6 feet and a centre section meant for diving which was 15 feet. The centre section was always freezing as it never warmed up at all so most people avoided it. Many happy memories of heading there for the day with a packed lunch by bus without parents sadly the council decided it was too expensive to maintain the pool and it's lovely grounds .....and now it's a garden centre. The high diving board remains and can be seen from the road though.

I'm surprised that most places seem to use a blanket age of 8yrs to be able to swim unaccompanied. When I was a child we lived abroad and to be able to go to our local indoor, or outdoor pool you had to take a test, I can't remember exactly what it was maybe to just swim 50m and pick up a brick from the bottom. You then got a pass that allowed us in without an adult. I was about 8 when I got my pass, but my older sister struggled to get hers and I think was 11 when she got it.

Persian maybe the life guards are scuba divers?
I remember when I did my lifeguard qualification (many years ago) at the local pool which at its deepest point was 3 metres deep. We had to "rescue" a plastic sand filled torso from 3 metres deep and it was so bloody hard trying to pull the thing up to the surface.

All the other local pools were only 2 metres deep and some people actually advised taking the NPLQ test there as it was easier to pass the test but to me that defeated the very point of the test.