To allow my son to do this on holiday?

[HistoryRepeat]

4 years old. Loves the water. But can't swim. We go every week in the kids pool and he's leaning to kick, use a float.

We are on holiday. There is a big slide and it goes into a deep plunge pool. The pool is only as wide as a bath. Very small but v deep.

DH saying DS not allowed to go as deep and he can't swim. I say he should be able to go and I stand at the bottom and catch him. The kids do go under but I would be right there. Its such a small pool, you can touch each side. I know he can't swim but if someone is literally stood there to catch him? He did go down one slide and went under for 2 seconds, he was a bit shocked but again I was right there scooped him up and he wanted to again.

Anyway turned into a big thing as DS is obsessed with going and DH insistingjust paddle pools. DH is safety obsessed imo but he says I'm being ridiculous and that I need to trust him and respect his viewpoint and I'm not presenting a united front.

Kids currently watching screens, DH off in a huff and me wandering why I work all year to afford to take them on holiday.

Would you let your kid who can't swim on the big slides if you were at the bottom? Am I being lax?

Can't he go down with armbands?

I'm sorry but I find your parenting shocking. It's obvious to me that you wouldn't let a non-swimming preschooler access deep water. What happens if you don't catch him?

FGS it's common sense. His time will come when he's older and can swim, you need to have SOME boundaries. For now, you should be teaching him to steer clear of deep water.

A slide that goes into a pool that an adult can stand up in and touch the sides sounds bloody dangerous for anyone tbh. That's some level of very slow accuracy each person must need when going off the slide. Weird.

Nope. My 8 yo who can swim won’t go down any slide that ends up in deep water.

usually in such places you’re not allowed to wait at the bottom to “catch” them. If he can wear a flotation vest going down then perhaps. Is there not a height restriction? There usually is.

I would've previously said yeap go for it. However I had a similar experience last year on holiday. My 7 year old wanted to jump in the deep end of the pool, she can swim, but isn't a strong swimmer so I waited to catch her. She jumped and I caught her, but she panicked as is was so deep (too deep for me to touch the floor) she began to flap around in the water and go under, trying to hang in to her I went under too. I managed to push her to the safety of the side of the pool wall and eventually got myself over there too. This all happened in a few split seconds. It was terrifying. What may seem like something fun can quickly turn into something awful.

Learn to bloody read. He goes swimming every week.

I think this is fine. Or go down with him on your lap. You seem to be getting even more ridiculous 'what if's here than from your husband!

'What if you have a medical emergency and can't catch him?'
Presumably that person never drives in case they have a medical emergency?! Or is a passenger for that matter in case the driver has a medical emergency 🙄

We recently went on holiday and there was a water park with slides for little ones. Our 5 y/o on there every day. No issues

There wasn't much water at the bottom though.

Not sure if what you are describing is the same?

You should be able to make your own judgement here

Yes but he CAN'T FUCKING SWIM. And he is four years old, and little.

Personally I think it's a saving grace that one of you at least has some take on risk. You sound irresponsible.

Not a chance.

If he takes a gasp or shouts out, gets a mouthful of water and starts to splutter, tries to breathe and gets water in his lungs..

Not a chance.

Mum is in the water to FUCKING catch him.

Btw how deep is that very deep water? Can you stand up yourself there?
I dont think I would do that anyway, tbh.

Your jobs as parents is to look after and protect your child, not make sure they get their own way. I would respect DHs wishes in this instance. Water is something to be respected and teaching children that should be the priority.

Go down with him on your knee.

I would say absolutely not to this. I am quite risk averse, but it seems like a no brainer to me. What if something happened to you while he was going down the slide, or you don't catch him?

It's absolutely fine to have boundaries and have him understand that he's too young for some things, and he needs to wait until he's older and can swim.

The histrionics on this thread are hilarious

P.S. meant to add - Google secondary drowning.

Nopeity Nope.

Which may nor may not be successful depending at what angle he exits the slide. If he finds himself landing in deep water alone and he doesn’t know how to tread water or regulate his breathing and he panics - which can all happen in a split second - then what?

Even worse. So if he flies off her lack, she then runs the risk of knocking him out or landing on him.

How about just waiting until he's older? Kids don't HAVE to do everything.

And how safe will that be with other big kids and adults crashing down into a not very big pool? If other parents are standing there catching small children then it's probably ok, as I said. If it's all bigger kids who can swim and you aren't allowed to stand at the bottom then it's probably not.

Parents need to be very careful around water, small children (whether or not they can swim) and non-swimmers. People get really reckless on holiday.

Eh. We had arm bands on the kids and we stood at the bottom or they came on our laps down the slide.

I don't think I would risk it. This is a new slide to him. He will be coming down it on his own and entering the water on his own. If the experience doesn't go how he expects it to go (could be faster than he expects), it might give him a fright and put him off being in the water. For the first time it would be better if someone is with him.

Does he not have a floaty device? Would he hold his breath as he went under and not panic? If so I would just go down with him and make sure DH was at the bottom if needed. Wait until it quad bikes and horses then your DH has a reason to be scared.

We took DS in the deep end (DH is over 6 foot and could still touch the bottom) with his floaty on and left go. He scrambled for a couple of seconds then start to practice his swimming by the end of the holiday he was confident. He had hours of lessons in the shallow end before that and wasn't making progress.

Haven't rtft, but if DH is so concerned about safety why aren't they down at the pool together teaching him to swim?

Seems like a perfect opportunity.