Guest Post: Check the colour of your children’s swimwear; it could be dangerous

[SophiaCMumsnet]

Rebecca Adlington, OBE, double Olympic gold medallist

I’ve swum my entire life and I’ve only recently become aware that there are certain colours that can’t be seen underwater. As a parent, I feel like I should have been aware of this sooner, which is why I’m hoping to raise awareness on Mumsnet via this post.

I am urging all parents to check the colour of their children’s swimwear before they go swimming or on holiday this summer. It could be putting them in danger.

Alongside the holiday company On the Beach, we conducted testing of some of the most popular colours of swimwear.

Blue, white and grey coloured swimwear is almost invisible underwater, meaning in the unthinkable situation that your child got into difficulty, they would be much harder to see.

Alongside On the Beach we’re doing a couple of key things and we would really appreciate your help as fellow parents.

1. On The Beach has created a petition urging the government to make it illegal for clothing retailers to sell potentially dangerous blue, white and grey swimwear for children. Your signature helps make this more likely to become legislation.
2. Check your own child’s swimwear and look to swap out unseeable solid blue, white or grey swimwear and if you’re able to, replace it with more visible colours such as pink, yellow, red, black, purple, green or any fluorescent shades. It really does make a big difference to how they’re seen in water.

It’s vital that we do the above to help make sure our children are visible in the water. According to new research, 90% of parents are not aware that certain swimwear colours cannot be seen underwater and the same number agree that there should be more awareness around what colours of swimwear can be seen underwater.

On the Beach is also giving away thousands of free brightly coloured children’s swimming shorts and swimming costumes, as well as giving customers £5 off their child’s next visit to the swimming baths.

I’m hoping this post raises awareness and that you’ll join the fight to ban these dangerous colours of swimwear. We know that two thirds (66%) of children wear blue, white or grey swimwear which is not visible underwater. We can’t be putting our children in unnecessary danger, so please check your children’s swimwear, change it where you can, and sign our petition to help make a difference.

Thank you!
Becky

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onthebeachholidays/?locale=en_GB
Website: https://www.onthebeach.co.uk/swimwear-safety

I saw an article about this some time ago, and got my son bright orange swim shorts and rash vest from next!

On the basis of their appalling TV adverts, I want nothing to do with On The Beach. I'll take the risk.

Moat kids swimwear is brightly coloured. Not sure it's the big issue it's being presented as.

You'll risk kids drowning unnoticed? That must be the mother of all bad adverts!

It sounds eminently sensible to me!

Becky, this sounds similar to our child’s headteacher advising to wear bright coats to be seen by drivers on school run, common sense maybe?! But I have never thought of what colours would be visible underwater until reading your post, agree eminently sensible advice which is neither common sense nor common knowledge! I will definitely be acting on it, thank you 🙏

As someone who lost a child on the beach and had to walk the shore with a lifeguard looking for a body in the sea (she was safe)… I will never let my kids wear anything other than neon colours in the water. Even baby pink can’t by spotted. Bright colours could honestly save a child’s life.

btw what is this advert and why is it so awful??!

You would ignore safety advise and 'take the risk' of your kids drowning just because you don't like a company's ads?? Bloody hell

As you won't check the on the beach ads, here's a guide.
Hope it saves your kids 🙄

Once we were school age, my sister and I always had black costumes because this was the school uniform requirement for swimming lessons. My parents didn't buy us different costumes for holidays which was understandable because they'd have been worn a handful of times in the summer and then outgrown by the next year - but looking at the above, though fine for the pool, the black costumes would have been invisible in the sea where we spent much of our time on holiday.

The information is true but is this not an advert? I thought Mumsnet didn't allow adverts?

Yes they do.
It's how they make money.

Fair enough, I've seen threads removed when the op has come on to their wares whilst claiming it's information.

I did know this and make my kids wear really bright Funkita costumes! They insisted I also needed one, so I now match my youngest!

I realised while snorkelling with my 7 year old last year how well her skin tone blended in with the rocks at the bottom. Interestingly her white rash vest made her more visible, though according to those pictures it shouldn’t, however the sea was a very nice Mediterranean blue with limestone rocks.

Yes because they haven't been paid for. Users of the site aren't allowed to use the talk forum to sneak in an advert for their company. People aren't allowed to sign up to spam the boards.

This one was started by an employee of Mumsnet.

@IncompleteSenten Thanks for the explanation .
I also agree ppl shouldn't be allowed to use the site to fill the boards trying to sell.

I would have thought green could be bad too water often has a green hue. Why is green OK, or are we just talking about swimming in beautiful blue Mediterranean type water

Interesting. I hadn’t actually thought about this, though it seems obvious now.

DD swims competitively and its amazing how open water swimming suits and wet suits are all black really. They really are hard to see, even with flashes of neon.
I wonder if anyone sells brighter ones, and then how I'd persuade DD into one...

It’s ridiculous to ban certain colours of swimwear. My children wouldn’t be swimming unsupervised. I open water swim. I don’t need to change the colour of my costume. I wear a tow float.

You are obviously a water safety-conscious parent but not all are; or many might be unaware of this particular danger. The suggestion is to ban the sale of them in children's swimwear ranges, not for adults.

I have a bright coloured rash vest for this reason.

First and foremost I would advocate teaching water safety and swimming lessons (our local council offers free lessons to children aged 9 or over who can't swim), and of course, monitoring your kids in the water. But anything that helps increase our childrens' safety is a good thing. This to me is a bit like wearing hi vis on bikes, or when running.

The shorts arrived this morning, my son really likes the bright colours.

It's along the lines of grey/silver cars being invisible in dark rainy or foggy weather especially when drivers don't put their lights on because so many cars have their headlights on automatically but not the back .
I know it;s nought to do with swimwear but same lines .

There's also a really interesting and frightening article about how someone acts when they drown. No thrashing or screaming . They sink . Quietly .

Why do we have to ‘ban’ things? Simply raising awareness seems to be working?

How stupid. Putting your child in swimwear that can be seen could save their lives. It has fuck all to do with on the beach!