To not want my 5yo to go to a swimming party (safety concerns)

[CountessDracula]

It is at a time where we can't go

I feel that someone may not pay attention for 2 seconds and dd might drown

Is that OTT?

Most pools have a rule that children under a certain age (usually about 8) have to be accompanied by an adult anyway. So they probably wouldn't allow anything more than 2 children to one adult. YANBU!

chocolatedot-do you think that rule would be fair though? by 5 my son was a very confident swimmer and to say no swimming parties till 8 would have been daft! as long as a parent is in the water with them then i really don't see the problem.

I wouldn`t let my DD go either.
IMO they are too young unless each child has an adult in the pool with them - one on one.
YANBU

I would not either. Our local pool will not let a child in without suitable ratio of adult to children. This applies to pool parties too. I held a pool party for a mix of ages and worked out my numbers based on those ratios and ensured that everyone knew them.

One of my friend's decided not to send her 4yo dd to a swimming party a while ago because she couldn't accompany, and a child at that party drowned and died. It's OK if your child is really, really a good swimmer, but otherwise you'd want to know for sure someone was looking at him/her in the water. I wouldn't host one tbh, too risky. I don't think I'd even send ds1, even though at 6 he's been swimming for 2 years. But then I'm paranoid.

I wouldn;t allow 6y DD to go to a swimming party without a lot of adult supervision - TBH probably not unless there was either me or DH able to supervise. Think the risk is too great. DD can swim but not overly strongly, and it is very easy for a child to not be noticed if lots of them are playing.

DD has been to a swimming party - for 4 year olds - but every child had to have an adult supervisor in the pool with them.

Googly - so so sorry to hear what happened when your riend was at the party, but thank you for sharing. I have just decided to take a day off work and accompany DD to a birthday party where there will be a pool and the children have been told if nice bring cossie etc.

I think I'd avoid unless either a) I or another one-to-one supervisor was going to be there or b) (possibly) dc was strong swimmer & it was to be a v small group. YANBU.

Even if a 5yo were a competent swimmer I don't think that is any guarantee of safety(dd can swim unaided and is very enthusiastic but she can get tired very suddenly or forget what she is doing and go under)

How awful about the swimming party child

Dh has said now he will take her but I want to make sure there is a proper ratio of adults to children (ie one on one) as I am concerned that otherwise he may get too distracted being put in charge of multiple children

Deffo NBU.

I wouldn't let my 5 year old go without me or DH, no way.

All the swimming parties I've been to with my dc's, the adult taking them is supposed to stay. If one of us couldn't, then they wouldn't be going. Am surprised that the hosts don't insist on that. Swimming parties can be great fun- with adequate supervision.

chocolatedot on Tue 01-Jul-08 19:31:11
"No way. Personally I think swimming parties should be 8+. My DH was in the water with my DS when he was 5 and turned away to talk to someone. DS went under and couldn't get back to the surface. Even though DH hauled him up in seconds it took us about 2 years to get him back in the water. "

Errrmm...I think supervising adults shouldn't turn away to talk to somebody else; that's not a reason for banning everybody else from swimming parties.

Though to go under and be hauled back within seconds doesn't seem such a dreadfully irresponsible thing to me. We spend our summers in Sweden where children of all ages (supervised) are basically in the sea or the local lake for hours every day. Probably all children in the family have taken unintentional dives; nobody seems to be that worried. They practise it at swimming lessons so as to get used to not panicking.

I think they've eiher got to be really young so parents have to be there or older than 5.
My ds will be 1 in August and us and his little friends are going swimming, but his friends are all under 3. So it's babies and mummies (or daddies).
Why can't they go to the park?

I think parents should have to be there even if they are 5. When dd was invited to one at age 9, parents were still expected to stay and I think that makes good sense.

Cory, I didn't mean to suggest that swimming parties should be "banned" for anyone under 8. I was just simply trying to illustrate how it can take only seconds for a poor swimmer to go under, even in a one-on-one situation, let alone with a pool full of 5 and 6 year olds supervised by life guards.

Even in Australia, with a relatively small population and a nation of excellent swimming instruction, I think an average of 2 children a week die by drowning.

I'm very pleased for you that your children in Sweden are so robust about swimming, as I said, my little boy was unfortunately badly scarred by the experience.

These days I always regret posting anything on Mumsnet.

Most pools have a ratio of about 1 adult to every 3 children. We held a swimming party for dd's 6th birthday and each adult helper was responsible for 3 children, the whole pool was shallow so most of the children could stand anywhere in the pool and there were 2 lifeguards.