There's only one place kids want to spend their summer: the pool. And even though this almost always guarantees a fun day in the sun, there are also some dangers. Keep these warnings — which go far beyond reminding your children not to run — in mind during your next visit.
If you put SPF on your kids the instant you get to the pool, you might already be too late for optimal protection. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, you should apply SPF 30 or higher on their entire body before they even put on their swimsuit. After that, reapply to any exposed skin every two hours or as soon as they get out of the pool.
It's easy to rely on arm floaties so your child can hang out in the pool risk-free, but according to pediatric nurse practitioner Dani Stringer, they should never be used as a water safety tool. In fact, she says to toss 'em out ASAP. "It only takes a minute, sometimes even seconds, for children to take floaties off and slip under the water. You will not hear a thing," she wrote on her blog.
Swimming leads to wet ears — that's a given. But many parents don't know how important it is to dry their children's ears between swim sessions. According to the CDC, ear infections (often known as "swimmer's ear") are incredibly common in children and result in 2.4 million doctor visits a year. To prevent, tilt your kid's head to drain their ears as much as possible after swimming, then use a towel to dry them out.
Even though this section is full of water-spouting toys and fun, if the facility doesn't maintain it properly, it could be slimy and prone to slips and spills. Spray jets may also use water that continually recycles through, which means if it's infected with parasites and bacteria and your kids drink some, this could lead ot anything from diarrhea and vomiting to rashes.
Not only is it easy for young children to overheat or drown in hot tubs, but it's also a breeding ground for respiratory infections, like Legionnaires' disease, due to breathing in the steam or mist, says the CDC. Luckily, this disease is rare in children and often only results in mild symptoms if they do come down with it, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
It's easy to want to enter relaxation mode and shut your eyes at the pool. After all, most parents think if their child is in danger, they'll hear them splash around or yell, but that's not the case. According to Safe Kids, parents should constantly be keeping an eye on their children because drowning is usually silent. Check in with them often, and make sure they're always within arm's reach of an adult, just in case.
Inhaling water isn't just an easy way to take in harmful bacteria — it can also irritate their airway and cause them to suffer from a case of out-of-water drowning, called dry drowning, which results in choking, Holly Phillips, MD told CBS This Morning. Depending on the severity, some cases of fluid build-up in the lungs that causes breathing issues, called secondary drowning, can even happen up to 24 hours later.
According to one study, the most common pool toys you can buy for kids — like bathing rings and inflatables — are often treated with high concentrations of potentially harmful chemicals, some of which have been labeled as carcinogenic. To make sure your child's toys are safe, do the smell test: researchers found the worst offenders often smell like almonds, plastic, rubber, glue, or nail polish.
If a facility isn't careful, they could add too much chlorine to their water, which can cause coughing, difficulty breathing, and vomiting, says the CDC. Other research has found it could also cause issues for children with allergies or asthma. To keep your child safe, Wellness Mama recommends avoiding the potentially harmful effects of chlorine by looking for a pool near you that uses salt filters (which contain smaller amounts of chlorine) or UV filters instead.
Faulty pool drains and filters shouldn't have to be something you worry about when you take your child to the pool, but accidents can happen. In one instance, a young girl's hair got stuck in the suction, holding her under water for more than two minutes until she resurfaced unconscious. It's best to teach your child to steer clear of them altogether from an early age.
Contracting water-related illnesses is possible whenever you go to the pool, but your child is at a much higher risk of acute gastrointestinal illness if they swallow water in the super-shallow areas of a pool. According to a study published in the journal Canadian Family Physician, those sections tend to be more contaminated.