kids at the ocean and jellyfish!

[Naomi43]

hi I am from the USA but haven't really found a good parenting forum there, so I pop in on this one from time to time. I have a question regarding jellyfish concerns and letting my 8 yr old son swim in the ocean! I am not sure if jellyfish are an issue in the UK? they were not an issue in the northeast USA until the last 5-10 years when all the global pollution is causing there to be lots of jellyfish in areas where they never were before. I live about 3 hours from the ocean in New England. Last summer we went on a mini vacation to Maine. There were a few jellyfish in the water, but tons of people swimming, and so I let my son go into the ocean with my husband. They were fine. I tend to be a bit over protective of my only child. I am a bit of an older Mom and have just found in my life through trial and error and many mistakes that I like to be better safe than sorry. So this summer coming up my extended family has rented a house for a week in long beach island, new jersey, on the beach. This is about 6 hours south of where I live. From my research I see there are quite a lot of stinging jellyfish there these days! We will be there with my sister's family. My sister has 6 kids- a rowdy bunch and she is not over protective at all. She lets them do a lot of things that I would be more protective about than she is, just active things and less watching them quite as close since she has 6. she is a responsible mom, just more on the brave side than me. So I think she will not even think twice about letting her kids ( young kids from ages 3-10) go in the ocean despite the jellyfish. Where I do not really want to take the risk with my son of him getting stung! It is a bummer cause I want him to learn to love and swim in the ocean. My husband is much braver than I am and would be fine with them going in the ocean, but would also respect my wishes if I wanted them not to. I was thinking about getting him a wet suit, maybe? though his feet would still be exposed. what would you do? we have a week there with my parents and my two sisters and their families. thanks

Do you think it may be better to ask this on the American forum that you go on? You might get a few more responses

Wetsuit and wetsuit shoes. Or a rash vest?
I guess you’ll see when you get there if lots of people are swimming and you can make the decision then. If it’s just a sting he will get then perhaps give him the choice, show him the jelly fish and explain and then he can choose whether to go in or not. Maybe buy some cream/piritin/calpol and take them in your beach bag. Hopefully he will just have a lovely time and not get stung.

It is absolutely about what particular species of jellyfish you have locally so won't be able to help you there. Where I grew up in northern Europe the lion's mane jellyfish gives a painful sting but no more dangerous than the European nettle or grazing your knees falling off your tricycle: only very protective parents would stop their children swimming for fear of encountering this one. "Oh dear, mummy will kiss it better" and a hefty dose of calamine lotion pretty well covers the case. There is also the moon jellyfish which doesn't sting at all (not so that humans would notice it) and, more recently, a new species that again doesn't really sting.

Further south in Europe there is a (small) risk of encountering the Portuguese Man of War, which can cause respiratory failure. That's obviously a very different kettle of fish and one might want to take precautions such as keeping tabs on when and where one is likely to encounter this species, choosing sheltered coves where they are less likely to enter, or simply keeping an eye on children and teaching them to be alert.

So first call, I'd say: find out how much harm these particular beasties could do. If it is no worse than a grazed knee or a blister from walking or a grazed knee at football, then ask yourself how much you would be prepared to cut him off from to save him from those.

Thank you! Corythatwas that is especially helpful. I have no idea what kinds of jellyfish are there. It is pretty new to have jellyfish around these parts at all, and I don't go to the ocean that often.
But thank you to everyone else too for the responses. They are helpful.
I will probably have the wetsuit, research the type of JF, and also asses what the other families are doing.

You need to ask what kind of jellyfish they are, I'm in Sydney and every now and again we get bluebottles coming in, they really do sting and all the locals are aware of this, people still swim,

Agree, depends on the type of jellyfish.
I have always let my kids swim with and play with certain kinds of jellyfish, other types they would not be getting in the water if they were present.
We went on a holiday somewhere where there were killer jellyfish (Irukandji) which are smaller than an adult fingernail at that time of year so everyone wore stinger suits. However while swimming we also touched heaps of the traditional harmless jellyfish.
Our local beaches generally have innocuous jellyfish the kids always love to spot and touch (probably bad for the jellyfish ...........) but sometimes we have bluebottle types which sting like anything (don't make you sick or kill you, just sting like nothing else). Most people, but not all, exit the water if these are spotted or start to wash in.
So, completely depends on your jellyfish!

I just had a quick google and the stinger suits that ecostinger.com sell for kids look nice and they also provide sun protection which is a bonus.

I would research the jellyfish in your area and whatever the recommended treatments are.

Here we have bottles of vinegar located near the beach for potential stings.