4yo unattended in pool

[Anon01010]

My ex recently started taking our 4yo old swimming. 4yo has had two lessons I believe and had no prior experience in pools so is still learning. They do an open swim session after. 4yo has just informed me his father showed him how he can swim the whole length of the pool under water, leaving 4yo unsupervised in the pool. Am I right to be worried/annoyed by this or should I just let it go?

I would be very worried by this. It only takes a few seconds for a child to get into difficulty or even drown if left alone in the water.

I’d be furious - neither of mine could swim at age four, they remained within arms reach at all times in a pool, especially if it’s deep enough for an adult to swim under water in. Probably not a lot you can do to stop it. The lifeguard may have words though, at our local pool you’d get shouted at for being too far away from a non swimming child.

A 4 year old child who can't swim should never be out of sight or out of arm's reach in a pool.

Actually even if they can swim they should be close and never ever left unattended.

Was he watching from the side? Or sat on the steps?

Presumably there's a life guard too.

I'd probably just ask him rather than sitting there stewing about it and speculating.

Absolutely not on. Does he know what danger he put your son in??

He was at the other end of the pool?

Hufflemuff - he was swimming a length under water so not watching at all!

It says in the OP that he was swimming the length of the pool under water.

My now ex husband left our da who couldn’t swim at all at the time in a different pool while he swam lengths. He also drove her around in a car with no working seat belts in the back.

@Hufflemuff my son was in the water, granted wearing armbands but still, alone.

If my ex were any sort of reasonable person I would speak with him but my guess is he will not admit to this.

I always watched my kids like a hawk in the water until they could confidently swim a length.

I assume she meant where was the son watching from

He was “unsupervised in the pool”.
It’s all right there in the op 🤷🏻‍♀️

How long is the pool? Our local teaching pool is 5m across. If it was that distance I think it's not so bad - he'd be a couple of strokes away. If he's 10m+ away that's another matter.

I'd always check details when given information like that by a 4 year old. Their perception can be quite different from reality.

Id check with him before getting annoyed. 4 year olds say all sorts!

@Honon it’s at least 15m long but unclear how wide, in theory he could have swam the width

So where was dad?

Under the water 🤷‍♂️ read the OP

It's incredible how people can read a 5 1/2 line post and still not take in the information.

Haha, got it. In that case, of course he wasn't unsupervised!

Dad was there
You cannot trust exactly what 4 Yr old said
One length might be a quick dip under water
4 Yr old has armbands
Is it lifeguarded pool?

15m is a reasonably long way for the average person to swim under water. And the average 4 year old doesn't know what lengths or widths are. So he may have been far closer than you think

My kids are older now so it’s been a while but it sounds ok to me depending on the set up. We used to swim at a little pool that had steps leading in and then was quite shallow with a gentle slope. We’d practice swimming then I’d do a couple of lengths whilst they played with pool toys near the steps at 4. There was a lifeguard, possibly mine we’re better swimmers at that age.

Not really the point but swim fin is better than arm bands.

@vivainsomnia
He is 4. Has had 2 lessons. His dad disappears off underwater.
How is that not being unsupervised?