Toddler drowns at health club pool - apportioning blame ?

[thetideishigh]

This article really resonated with me on a couple of levels

metro.co.uk/2020/02/11/dad-boy-3-drowned-david-lloyd-pool-says-death-prevented-12218854/.

When my kids were little I insisted that any swimming trips involved 2 adults as I'm not a strong swimmer myself and my dh was lax in his alertness to danger when in sole charge of just two kids ("daddy daycare" was responsible for ALL of our trips to A & E for the kids up to the age of 7).

One of my dc qualified and worked (only part time) as a lifeguard from the age of 16 + 1/2. They were a very serious/responsible child, with the maturity of someone much older according to their teachers and other independent adult observations.

Their younger sibling now also wants to train as a lifeguard so that they can earn a little extra money. They are fairly mature for their age so I was inclined to say yes to funding the training until I read the linked article.

It's set me wondering whether 16/17 year olds are too young for lifeguarding (although my dc is currently more responsible in their attitude to life stuff than a great many 18-21 year olds I know.

I also wonder how the dad came to lose sight of the 3 year old for long enough for him to wander off and fall in to the main pool. I never relaxed at the pool with the kids until they were better swimmers than me. I was a constant personal lifeguard to them on such trips but mostly because of my fears, not because of their behaviour.

What do people think ?

How desperately sad.

I would find it hard to “apportion blame” to a 17yo.

The health centre should have had more than one lifeguard on duty imo. However I have no idea what the regulations are for that.

This is an absolutely tragic accident.

I certainly wouldn't blame the lifeguard.

I feel terribly for the parents and siblings of this child. I would say that a moment of careless parenting is to blame here and these parents are unfortunate that their moment of careless parenting led to tragedy.

I am paranoid about water safety and personally have thus far not even let go of DD's (2.5) hand when near the pool, let alone taken my eyes off her but she's an only child so my undivided attention is readily available when we go swimming.

But in my own daft parenting moment I let go of DD's hand in a car park and she did a very out-of-character sprint onto the road of the car park. It is only a fortunate set of circumstances which means that this didn't end in tragedy - the car that was coming was far enough away to stop.

So I am not being judgemental in what I'm saying!

So so sad.

I wonder if a change of rules would help in future, as in children under a certain age are not allowed outside the changing room without life jacket/ armbands on?

Most swimming pools have signs up stating extremely clearly that children under a certain age must be under the care of a 'responsible' adult - I would say that covers the adult taking responsibility for the child; not leaving it to the lifeguard.

God, what a horribly sad story.

It does sound like the parents are saying the lifeguard has limited visibility over the pool which if so is surely a problem regardless of lifeguard age.

What an awful tragedy.

The father is right it could and should have been prevented, by him!

You don’t let toddlers out of your sight for a second and certainly not near a body of water.

Should the lifeguard have seen him? Impossible to say without seeing the set up. If the pool has lifeguards then you would like to think they were capable of watching the area but in my opinion that shouldn’t override parental care.

What an awful incident.

Isn't the water the first place you'd look when you noticed you were missing a child??

I think 17 year olds can train in tge practicalities as life guards just fine. I've always thought that the hardest part of the job must be staying alert to what's happening all your shift. I suspect that's what might make 17 year olds unsuitable for the role - their brains are still developing, they're studying and so on - perhaps there is an argument that they shouldn't be put in such a high responsibility but mostly long and boring job until their brains are ready?

All circumstances considered I find it hard to blame anyone here, apart from the management at the pool who should have made sure a competent experienced life guard was on duty at all times.

I don’t think the lifeguard is to blame either.

The parent is responsible for their child, not the lifeguard. When alerted to the danger, the lifeguard acted.

We went to a party once and a seven year old nearly drowned. Lots of people in the pool. The mother reAlised her son was missing and saw him in the pool. It’s amazing how quickly it all happened.

I read that and thought it was terribly unfair on the 17 year old.

Not saying the parent is to blame either, it was an accident. Accidents happen.

It's a tragic accident. If the venue recruits 17yo qualified lifeguards then they cannot then blame the age of the lifeguard for the accident.

The perspn responsible for keeping their toddler alive in a pool is the adult who accompanies them into it. Simple.

I wonder why the pool didn’t have an alarm. They go off when something is on the bottom for too long
Poor poor family

@sexnotgender I find it hard to blame the dad. He sounds like the type of guy who admirably will happily take the kids off to spend quality time with them while the mum gets to do her own thing. In this instance tragically he got distracted while sorting out what was happening with the lesson and it had resulted in the most heartbreaking thing. I doubt he will ever forgive himself so unlikely he needs the internet to point the blame.

Also, I would think the responsibility of the lifeguard is to rescue someone from the water and/ or administer first aid. It's the parent's responsibility in the first place to make sure the child doesn't get into the water unsafely.

Even in our life guarded pools, toddlers are supposed to be within arms reach of a supervising adult. I have two lifeguard inch kids and they spend most shifts asking parents to keep a closer eye on their kids. They also regularly get abused by dads, particularly, for respectfully asking them to abide by the rules and not put their offspring in danger.
One dad told my daughter ‘you’ll have to look after him then’ and disappeared down the slide leaving a tot of about 18 months stranded at the top of a series of concrete and metal stairs. She had to close the slide down, to the displeasure of the line, and slowly and carefully walk the tiny back down all the stairs to attempt to reunite him with the sperm donor.
A ton of men in pools have no concept of safety, no responsibility for their non-swimmer kids, and seem to assume that teenage lifeguards are their own personal babysitters, rather than being there to deal with actual emergencies.
Poor kid. Both of them.

@babysnowman

I think this is the general understanding of a lifeguard's duty but I've seen signs in the past reminding the public that lifeguards are not childcare providers and that it's the parent/carer's responsibility to keep their child safe in/around the pool.

It's awful, and difficult to apportion blame. I do think that a lifeguard whose job is to watch the main pool should see a small child entering and then spending time at the bottom, though. I was at a pool recently where a disabled man was swimming, and he spent a bit too long at the bottom of the pool. The lifeguard was instantly aware of what was going on and on his feet and ready to jump in when he surfaced, because his attention was on the pool.

What else was going on that the lifeguard didn't notice? Had he been on shift too long? At our local pool they shift every 20 mins or so, so the lifeguard on the chair comes down and walks around and swaps with another poolside lifeguard. Was the visibility of the pool poor? Was he responsible for more than one pool and having to split attention? Was he too inexperienced and young to be in sole charge of the pool, if he was?

I think there are lessons to be learned, but perhaps not blame. I do think that in a family facility like a David Lloyd club on a weekend morning, there should be adequate provision to notice a child entering the pool alone and lying at the bottom, though.

And I also don't think the dad needs blame from anyone on here. I'm sure he blames himself enough and will do for the rest of his life.

But the Dad is the one who is saying it could have been prevented. It could have been - if he had kept an eye on his son like he was supposed to.

If kids can't swim independently without aids then it should be one on one adults in the pool. It is too risky

It’s an incredibly sad story. I think it’s really unfair to blame the lifeguard.
When I take my dc to the pool I don’t let them out of my sight for more than a few seconds.
What I find had to understand is why did no one else notice a 3yo getting into a pool unaccompanied.

It is dreadfully sad but I don’t think the lifeguard is at fault here. We have all had lapses in our parenting and I can only imagine some of the grief and guilt the dad must be feeling. But pools always state that little ones must be under the care of a responsible adult at all times and that’s because it’s bloody hard as a lifeguard to keep an eye on a wee thing constantly, no matter how many lifeguards there are.

But he's right. Perhaps if the visibility was better, which is what he seems to be taking issue with, then it could have been prevented. That's different to blame; obviously the child shouldn't have been on his own. But if lifeguard visibility is so poor, then that's something that needs to be tackled, regardless of who was to blame for the child wandering off in the first place. God knows David Lloyd charge enough money to make sure their facilities are safe.

@nachthexe holy crap, that’s horrible. Did the bad father get reprimanded or banned from the pool at least?