Poole party

[Thismumrunsonhugsandtea]

My sons 14 has been invited to a pool party with two other children the pools in the parents house I’ve never met the parents before there’s not going to be any lifeguards,he can swim but not A strong swimmer.I know it’s silly because hes 14 but worrying about it.

What are you worried about exactly?

Pools in gardens are generally smaller than council swimming pools.

in addition the teens usually like to jump and dive in. Very little swimming gets done and lots of sitting on the side.

it’s likely most (if not all) of the pool will be shallow enough to stand up in.

what are you worried about? Alcohol? Drowning?

@StraightTalkingTina hitting there head Drowning, I do worry about water. My son’s had some lessons from an early age so he can swim but just still not massively confident. When I first moved into my house, I had a big pond at the back and I filled it in. When I was younger, one of my friends nearly drowned, I can still remember it she went blue. So I have this thing about water, I guess. I know it sounds silly.

Wouldn’t worry in the situation OP
he will have a great time.

@Octavia64 Yes, that’s good to know, It’s an indoor pool I don’t know exactly how big it is.

@Whoops75 Thank you it’s hard when they’re at secondary because you don’t really meet the parents like you do at primary school.

Your fears are understandable for you, but there’s doesn’t seem to be any reason to be fearful for him. He has had lessons from a young age and they’ll be playing around.

id be very pleased for my 14 ye old to be doing this in a safe environment then hanging around in a park.

so long as you know where he is - have the address, you can drop him off if that helps you. But these are your personal fears rather than a rational fear about your son.

Ex lifeguard here. I would assume the pool is no more than about 1 metre deep. Tell him not to dive in. If he hits his head on the bottom there is a risk of becoming quadriplegic. Jumping in at 1 meter is ok but any shallower, don’t do it. You risk ankle fractures and other injuries.

what stage swimming did he get to and how far can he swim? If he can confidently swim 15m, I would be reasonably happy as long as they are a very sensible group of boys. If he he struggles to swim 5m, I would be worried because weak swimmers don’t always remember how to get themselves vertical. I know it sounds mad but that was why i usually had to rescue people and they were in water they could easily stand up in.

how sensible are the boys? All lifeguards
worry about groups of boys or young men between the ages of about 12 and 25 because they spend most of their time trying to show off to each other. They like to duck each other under the water and do flips and other acrobatic moves off the side of the pool, all of which are obviously dangerous.

So - sensible group of boys, can confidently swim at least 15m - probably ok. If this doesn’t apply, I would be worried.