swimming safety inc with nanny

[thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat]

not sure if this is a stupid question or not. does a non-swimming 4 year old need armbands in a swimming pool where the water only comes up to their chest? other than that what "rules" would you have for someone other than you (in this case a nanny) taking your los swimming - esp in a crowded open air pool. 6 year old dd can swim about 5-6 metres. both have had lots of lessons but 4 year old not ready to go without floats yet. along with roads swimming pools worry me - (not much else does) no-one can be as vigilant as yourself can they?

Because you say it's a crowded pool I think I would prefer the arm bands on the 4yo... just as a little backup when the adult has 2 to keep an eye on. If the pool were quiet I would think without any float aid would be ideal, though. hth.

Bearing in mind your 6 year old can only swim 5-6 metres I would definitely put armbands on the 4 year old. I am only happy supervising one non-swimmer at a time (and by non-swimmer I mean a child who can't comfortably swim a couple of lengths of the pool) so I wouldn't expect anyone else to feel any different, but I am a bit nurotic about this. I got DS2 one to one lessons for a couple of terms as taking him as well as DD was a nightmare and it was money well spent as I can now happily go swimming with any combination of my kids.

Should obviously be a bit neurotic about my spelling as well