Just a yesterday, a nearly 3 year old boy drowned in his grandparents' backyard pool in my city. This isn't the first such incident of this nature here (or anywhere, I know), and it won't be the last, unfortunately. I'm in Canada and we don't have year round outdoor swimming here. It's finally gorgeous out, people are opening up their pools...and these things can (and do) seem to happen.
Not a lot of details were released on what happened, not that I really want to know. My heart really goes out to the family.
Before I had kids, I loved backyard pools and probably would have purchased a home that had one - if the opportunity had presented itself. Now, I just see them as being oh so dangerous, especially if they're not properly fenced or covered in such a way that a child can't gain access, and proper supervision isn't given to any children who may be playing nearby.
One of my husband's sisters and her husbands just purchased a home with a pool, and I'm a bit nervous about going over there during the summer months when it's open. Our oldest is in swimming lessons, but since he's only 3.5, it's more about getting the kids comfortable at this point, not teaching them actual "swimming". Obviously, both my husband and I will supervise him and his baby brother very closely whenever we're there - or anywhere with a pool. My SIL and her husband don't have kids yet.....she reassured me about the pool, saying it's only 5 feet all the way around (no real deep end).....which isn't reassuring since a child can drown in a bathtub with much LESS water than that!
The thing that gets me, is that my SIL is a really nervous person and suffers from anxiety over/about a lot of things. When and if they do have their own kids, I can't see her being relaxed about the pool either...she'll be worried sick about something happening to her own kids.
Sorry...I don't know if there's a real question here - I guess I just needed to get this out of my system!
