Straw poll - toddler and swimming pool?

[SendintheArdwolves]

Next summer, we're planning a big group holiday (four couples, few singletons, etc) One of the party is a child who will be about 2 and a half. Most of the party want to book a place with an outdoor pool. Is this a) fine since the child will be supervised or b) a bit risky in case DC wanders off for a second and falls in?

A gated pool and if for any reason the parents are not going to be directly supervising the child there is a clear communication between them and ONE other person that that person is responsible. Otherwise everyone thinks everyone else is doing it.

If I were the parent of the toddler, I wouldn't expect or want all my friends to sacrifice a pool on their holiday. So then it becomes the parents call- supervise or don't go on this holiday.

I would, IF there was a proper gate. We went to Spain in a big family group last summer and although there was a communal pool for the 4 villas, each villa had its own little garden with a gate. Between that and DD wearing a flotation jacket when she went outside, we were fine. She also really took to the pool and even several months later has remembered how to splash up and down it by herself in her jacket (god help you if you try to help her!!!).

DP and i still had to watch her like a hawk though. Toddlers are divine but they are NOT relaxing holiday companions with their determination to injure themselves as creatively as possible. I weep for the days when I could read a book a day whilst tanning with a cocktail!!!

It's just like going to a big hotel with a pool though isn't it, there not fenced off? Okay they have life guards but only till a certain time. I'd do it x

As long as the pool is gated it would be fine. We had a pool (fenced and gated) from the time our youngest was 18 months, until she was 5. Yes, you have to be vigilant, but most people would be anyway.

We've been on holiday with 2 DGCs aged 6 and toddler, their parents, plus two more adults, unfenced pool, it was fine. We are all very responsible and the children were never outside alone. But if people aren't quite as aware, it's best to be very clear at all times exactly who is watching DCs, and of course make sure they can't get out of the house while adults are asleep.

Get reins for the toddler to keep them close? We're taking our 18m old to a hotel soon with huge pools, none gated, same again later in the year. Parents responsibility to always watch the child

A toddler in my extended family drowned in the pool of the house in France. The mother thought the little boy was with the father and vice versa. I don’t know the exact set-up of the pool, but it can happen.

I wouldn't want the pool unless gated. It's going to be low level anxiety and irritation for everyone, and though the risk of the child having an accident is small, it's then pretty life ruining for everyone afterwards. Plus, adults who aren't used to toddlers and are relaxing have an unfortunate tendency to do stupid shit. They just do. It's not even their fault.

There are UVF suits with floats built in. A zip at the back means toddler cannot remove them

www.konfidence.co.uk/floatsuits.html

I’ve found people without children underestimate the attention you need to give a toddler so I’d not expect anyone else to be responsible.

Even PIL who have raised their own children, and are quite risk averse, are a nightmare for saying they’re ok to watch dd and then just wandering off.

In the villa we were at, it was all very toddler unfriendly- shiny, hard floors and lots of stairs with nothing to hold onto, so we wouldn’t have been leaving her alone anywhere, so the pool wasn’t a specific danger despite having no gates.