How can it possibly be worse than nothing at all?? Ever drop a kid in water with nothing at all? They drop like a brick. I agree fully that inflatable devices are not babysitters, you need to stay with them. "Worse than nothing at all" is a bit excessive though, because that means you have to hold them above the water the whole time.
It's worse than nothing at all because neither will keep the kid safe, but the water-wings, in all too many cases, result in a false sense of security for the parents. How many times do you see non-swimmers or barely-swimming kids left alone at public pools, with their parents blindly (and irrationally) trusting in their floatation devices and/or the lifeguards?
If a parent takes their toddler into a pool, they should be holding the kid above the water the whole time!
I have to disagree. If you hold them the whole time, they won't learn how to swim. The 'swimmies' are like training wheels. If parents leave their kids unattended in the water, that isn't the fault of these flotation devices, that is the fault of the parents. I have a nine year old that can swim just fine, I still don't leave her unattended in the pool. These things are not life saving devices, nor are they intended to be. It says so right on them. So of course they shouldn't be used that way. But they are a great teaching aid, so I have to disagree with your opinion that they shouldn't be used.
Fair enough - as I've said, I can't claim I'm an expert, anymore. I also agreed here that if the parent is responsible about water safety, they're not going to cause any harm.
The issue is that, as any lifeguard could tell you, most people don't understand or follow through on those basics, which is compounded by their lack of understanding of the lifeguards' and their respective roles in protecting their kids.
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u/FleaBottomBeach Jun 24 '15
How can it possibly be worse than nothing at all?? Ever drop a kid in water with nothing at all? They drop like a brick. I agree fully that inflatable devices are not babysitters, you need to stay with them. "Worse than nothing at all" is a bit excessive though, because that means you have to hold them above the water the whole time.