Keeping toddlers safe around an unfenced villa pool on holiday

[OneProudCrab]

Very excited to be going on our first family holiday to a villa. We have DS1 (3yr) and DS2 (13 months crawler). There will be PIL (but are fairly hands off parenting) and BIL with a baby also.

Ive started to get a bit paranoid about pool safety after hearing some terrible statistic that it is the number one cause of death in 1-3yr olds (think it was the US and haven't fact checked so it may be completely false but nevertheless I'm worried still).

The villa does not have a fence around it and I think the idea was to spend a lot of time in the outdoor shady area that is close but not directly overlooking the pool.

Any advice other than to stay super vigilant on how to keep kids safe and allow us to relax as much as we can whilst they play?

Thank you so much everyone, overwhelmed with the number of responses and just managed to get through them all!

Obviously I was very naive, I wasn't the one who booked but did agree to the villa when sent the link. Pleased to understand the risks before going at least. Sorry I can't remember everyone individually but a huge number of helpful suggestions and anecdotes.

Firstly I will check if we can change properties - we are staying in Italy (I've checked there are apparently no laws) and booked through an agency so a small chance they can switch us

If we really would loose all the money I think we will try to take as many of the precautions as have been suggested:

• hopefully they have a weight bearing cover to keep on at all times when pool not in use, otherwise will use the options of pool alarm (thanks for the link) or temporary fence (thinking the villa might pay something towards these if they keep)
• Rash vest that self inflates sounds great otherwise life vest they cannot take off
• Wristband/lanyard for designated watcher. 1 watcher per child who should be 100% sober - we are planning a trip to a vineyard one day so will have to make sure we are careful to get straight inside after
• Playpen for crawler
• As much age appropriate guidance given to 3yo as we can
• door locks and door stop on bedroom door

Yes, agree it doesn't sound like it will be in any way relaxing!

Can you get a couple of swimming lessons for toddler or do yourself? Look at the float on back and starfish training they teach Australian little ones as young as they can.

This is absolutely correct. A friends child drowned as she thought her DH had him, and vice versa.

Noooo no paddling pool - it's just as dangerous as a swimming pool. It's the water element that is the danger.

Seventy percent of child pool drownings happen during non-swim times. That is, when the child has managed to slip out and bypass all the precautions.

Those villa owners should be totally ashamed of themselves, not having a pool fence and a gate with a self-closing hinge, and a proper lock on the gate. They are ASKING for disaster. How would they feel if a child drowned in their pool - or more than one? (Twice in one summer, a pair of toddler twins drowned in pools in the region where I come from.) Even if they don't care about other people's children, they're leaving themselves open to lawsuits etc.

My son almost silently drowned at a party with people, including DH, watching him with absolutely no idea he was in trouble. He just looked like the same way he'd been playing the entire time, jumping off the step and swimming himself back in but he'd got tired. I came out the loo, took one look and dived in fully clothed and pulled him out and everybody there were absolutely devastated they'd missed it. And that was with everyone fully watching.

The most dangerous part is, if you don't have a fence, when people aren't watching and are not expecting a toddler to be in the pool and they find their way there anyway.

It is a big deal. And watching them while they're using the pool isn't Job Done, because seventy percent of child drownings in pools happen during non-swimming hours. Children are drawn to pools like magnets, and they can be little Houdinis when it comes to escaping their house and getting near that pool.

Just in the last week, there have been six child drownings in the country where I used to holiday, and those are only the ones reported. People are not knowledgeable enough about water safety and/or are not careful enough. Like you, they probably think it's not a big deal. Well, this is a massive issue, because a large number of children lose their lives to drowning each year.

If you do go I would also put something like this on any doors or windows that lead out to the pool.

amzn.eu/d/028i1nty

Hi OP - in agreement with everyone else saying this doesn't sound v relaxing. Be really tight on door locking. There was that awful case of an influencer last year who fell asleep with her husband and toddler one afternoon while on holiday and when she woke up the toddler had wandered out to the pool and devastatingly, didn't make it. Open water is no joke. Good luck!

Don't be riddiculous.

Majorit of home/villa pools in Europe aren't fenced. It is responsibility of the parents to keep their children safe, but I don't think they are breaking any Italian law if they correctly describe what's on offer.

Don't be ridiculous? Have you ANY idea how dangerous unsecured pools are for small children? Six children have drowned in the past week where I live, all in private un-secured pools. And Europe is behind the times on this. In many places, like certain American states (could be all of the US, I'm not sure) you have to have a pool fence. It's illegal not to, that's how dangerous it is.

And no, there is no such Italian law. I never said there was. But if a child comes to grief, the family could sue the villa owner in a civil suit. Their insurance would probably pay out, after a contentious civil court case. (And then either refuse to insure them again or hike the rates so as to be unaffordable.)

Watch these two videos and then tell me I'm "ridiculous." And have the sound on for the second one. If you're wondering why the child doesn't grab the lilo, it's because you have no fine motor skills when you're drowning.

This is an extremely serious topic. A dear friend's little boy almost drowned and he was in hospital for MONTHS. So I really do not appreciate being snapped at and told "Don't be ridiculous." Just because there are no fences around pool villas in Europe doesn't mean that it's not dangerous. It means the Europeans are more into cure than prevention.

Air BnB seems to agree that unfenced pool and kids is a combo one should very much avoid - given Airbnb did a big campaign about it

news.airbnb.com/airbnb-launches-summer-home-safety-campaign/

and the number 1 priority air BnB listed re pool safety?… fenced

Sounds like the person booking is completely clueless and doesn’t have children.
It’s definitely not going to be relaxing, but it is doable if you all work together, taking turns at looking after a child, and making sure only one person goes to the toilet etc.

FourSevenFour always posts bollocks @DimwittedSkater. Like whatsherface who will say any old nonsense for a shiny sixpence. Katie Hopkins!

Thanks!

Going back to my original point, I think any villa owner who rents to families should be utterly ashamed of themselves for having an un-secured pool. Seventy percent of child pool drownings happen when the pool is not in use - in other words, small children become total escape artists when it comes to a pool they want to jump into. That four-year-old on one of the videos I posted...just runs up to it and flings himself in with gay abandon. No hesitation at all. 🙈

Yes I’ve been aware of this poster too.

I very much doubt she actually has any experience of the threads she spouts on (children, friends, weddings etc)

actually I’d bet “he”

It's the night and the very early morning that would be a worry. Seventy percent of children who drown in private pools do so when the family is not swimming. Children are little escape artists when it comes to entering pools.

I've never heard screams before like those of the older boy in this video, who also couldn't swim. Now I know what's meant by a bloodcurdling scream. 😲

Same screams in this video:

You can’t drill into the 3 year old that they can’t go near the pool!

Any pool or spa in Australia (and inflated paddling pools) is legally required to have a compliant fence:-

https://surreypark.org.au/safe-swimming-series-keeping-children-safe-around-home-swimming-pools/

That’s what I said on this thread. My 2.5 year old nephew (3 in October) wouldn’t understand not to go near a pool. Excitement would take over. He just about understands not to put hands or go near hot stoves or cold fridge freezers and that’s because they’re everyday household appliances. A pool isn’t.

Yes - children have drowned in hotel pools surrounded by people and with lifeguards present