DC freedom at a swimming complex

[SunnySummerHols]

At what age would you allow a child to go off on their own in a busy swimming pool with slides & lifeguards if they have passed all levels of swimming badges (inc 50m breaststroke, 50m front crawl, 50m back stroke & 25m butterfly plus 20m of any stroke) & there was a designated place an adult would be at all times that they were told to return to approx every 10-15mins?

This is very unusual. At every pool I’ve worked at its 8.

and yes, sadly I have seen pools used as very cheap childcare for some families. £3 for a child swim, with no limit on time. A few summers ago an 8 yr old was dropped off at 9am and picked up at 5pm a few times a week.

That's terrible! In the pool I used to work in, we required two adults to be in the water for children that age.

I used to be a lifeguard. As many PPs have said, most pools allow 8 year olds to be alone in the pool. To be honest, I was always happy with this. If there were any kids who weren't strong swimmers, we would not allow them in the deep end. Lifeguards are normally strict about this because none of us want to jump in.

Any kids who don't follow our instructions get thrown out - it's not worth the risk.

At 12 and 15, your kids are plenty old enough to be alone and follow your instructions and those of the lifeguards.

At 12 and 15 then, I’d have no problem letting them do their own thing and you are nearby too. I was thinking yours were much younger from your initial post.