To ask 16yo to take his baby brother swimming? How strict are pools?

[Swimmin]

Hi everyone, baby is only 8 weeks so a while yet but just thinking of the future.

If someone were to take him swimming he needs supervised by a person 16+ how strict are they on that? Do they ask to see ID? Some under 16s look older than their age…

i have 16, 14, 10 and 5 year old also. younger 2 need me

would it be U to give money to my 16 to take him to the baby pool? but i’d say my 16 year old looks younger than his age

It's fine. Your 16 year old will be used to dealing with the baby as they are siblings. As the mother you know if you can trust the teen in this situation. I took a baby swimming when I was 16, I more more than mature enough, I also knew the baby well, as your teen does. Don't worry

I'm with the 'it depends on the 16yo' crowd, as well as the 'only if they want to'.

Goodness me, we infantalise almost-adults these days and then wonder why they cannot cope when they enter the real world. Old enough to have sex and vote, but God forbid they take their baby sibling swimming.

A sensible, calm, safety aware 16yo is more than capable of this. An unpredictable, impulsive, risk-taking 16yo, no. My ds has been occasionally babysitting my youngest since he was 14. He knows the rules, knows what to do in an emergency and knows that responsibility ultimately lies with us as parents, not him. He's approaching 16 and I'd absolutely trust him 100% with a baby in the pool, if he was ok with it.

And I bet they’re not expected to supervise tiny babies in the water?

Exactly. DD's swimming teachers are only teenagers and they have 6-8 kids between 2 of them.

I’m actually quite shocked again I’ve never once seen a 16 year old life guard and none of my children’s instructors have been children.

All most definitely adults mostly looking 30 plus.

I don’t doubt that some or even a lot of 16 year old would be more than capable of it I’ve just never seen it and we have used three different pools for lessons and regularly at the beach and pools at seaside resorts.

I've never asked any of them how old they are but I would put money on not one of them being 20 and some look barely 16.

This is a mad thread. Of course your 16 year old can watch his baby sibling in the baby pool. Baby will presumably be in a floaty vest/armbands, water will be shallow and there's lifeguards. 16 year doesn't even need to be a swimmer to do this in the baby pool as they can just stand up if needed. You'll be there too in the water supervising them all anyway. This is not an issue at all.

Wonder if it’s an area thing, or maybe quantity of pools.

Floaty vests and armbands are for 6 months plus.

I think most people are forgetting what a newborn looks like. I know op says she'd wait till her baby is 4mo but that's still too young for a floaty vest or armbands.

A 4mo can't even reliably sit up in a chair.

But op didn’t say that she was doing this now. She said in the future.

They’re expected to supervise an entire pool full of people of all ages and enforce the rules.

Bulig difference from new board and 4 months.

The truth of this thread is that most people didn’t even read the op properly. Op literally said IN THE FUTURE, so we don’t know where she means the baby would be 4, 6 or 8 months.

None of us know how sensible or competent her 16 year old is. None of us know the layout of her local pool.

It’s fine to advise op if you don’t think it’s a good idea, but the faux outrage is hysterical and a lot of the earlier replies were nothing but nasty.

Mumsnet is wild sometimes, you’ll get threads where posters are saying 18 year olds are adults and should move out and yet other people don’t think a nearly 17 year old would be capable of holding a baby for half an hour in a baby pool.

Talking about my tourist bit of the SW. Beach lifeguards can be 16 but tend to be a bit older as it’s hard to work the shifts if you don’t drive. I know a lot as we do surf lifesaving, they range from about 17-25 in the main with some older ones.

pool lifeguards are 16-20 ish. My DD is one - there are two older men who work with them but otherwise it’s a young persons job.

Nope. Dangerous.

If you will all be there as well then should be fine, id brief him on what to do and to take baby out if they're too cold etc and keep an eye.

I imagine it's hard finding activities for all of you to do together so find what works. observe how he manages with baby in the home first and if it's something he is comfortable doing.

alternatively you could all be in the kiddie pool together

What could go wrong?

Would any of you let a baby drown in a swimming pool when you were 16?

I sure as hell wouldn’t have.

Is your 16 year old willing to do this? Does he feel confident handling a slippery, wriggly baby? Does he feel ok being in a space full of mostly mums? Is he ok with being mistaken for a young parent / uncle? What's his eyesight like? If you can afford it he may be most confident doing baby swimming lessons with him to start with where you have a teacher helping the grown ups learn how to play with babies in the water.

Assuming we're talking about a UK swimming pool with life guards where kids over 8 can swim unaccompanied a responsible 16 year old and a baby will be fine together.

I'd go for it. But be prepared to swap who is supervising which children with him.

I think it's fine if he is responsible and willing, he is 16 not 6 ( lot of over reactions on this thread) I have a recently turned 17 year old and I would be fine with her supervising my youngest in a pool.

I understand why your thinking about it but what about doing water babies or similar while your other children are at school? I used to do it. Babies that age tend to have enough after 20/30 minutes anyway. So you can be there and back to do school pick ups. Its a lot of work for a teenager to look after a baby in the pool.

I am baffled by these answers, what do you think a 16 yesr old is going to do - drop him in the pool and forget he's there?

Edit : just read a comment about the possibility of screaming and being slippery while on the way out of the pool, didn't think of that. I think the actual pool would be OK but I wouldn't be able to stop worrying about the getting out now I've thought about it...

Id let the 16 year old take the 14 year old and the 10 year old at a push maybe the 5 year old if theyd completed some swim classes. Absolutely no chance would I leave them with an 8 week old or toddler in water

My sister had a baby at 16 and took him swimming at a few months old. They were quite hesitant to let her in but as it was her baby and responsibility, they did eventually. This was almost 30 years ago though. Maybe call the pool ahead of time to inquire?

Absolutely not,stop being selfish.