General Chat

Last summer four children drowned in private pools in the Algarve, that is four children too many. Every year it is the same story, we have people drowning in the ocean or children in pools.

The currents are very strong in the Algarve waters, most of the popular beaches have flags and or lifesavers but there are smaller beaches that don't. When I hear the sound of the rescue chopper flying in patterns my blood goes cold as it means someone is in difficulty.

Please take care everyone and don't forget the sun. It makes my blood boil when I see little children look like boiled lobsters all because their parents could not be bothered with sunscreen and sun hat.

Twice last year I felt like having a go at my neighbor because her little girls were playing out in the sun when the UV'S are at a high. Instead, I called out to the little girls to go indoors and fetch their hats and when they ignored me I told them that if they did not put on their hats and keep them on while outdoors I won't let them anywhere near our pool.

All the while Mom just sat there playing with her laptop...Grrrrr..I get so angry.

Lindy

We have a pond in our garden, only shallow, and with water lillies in and other plants. No fish, because cats would fish them out.

When my next door neighbours son was small, he kept getting in our garden, when I was not there, and trying to fish, with the net we used to get the leaves out.

I said to his father, tell ......... not to come into my garden and play near the pond, as he could fall in and drown, Do you know what the stupid man said to me, No he wont he can swim. I said maybe he can swim, but if he falls in head first and gets stuck in the mud at bottom he could drown.

As you say, a lot of people will not watch their childfen.


Mo

Mo,

You have a fool for a neighbour !

Long before I had children of my own I went to a six year old child's funeral. A tragic drowning accident . I can still see that tiny little white coffin, something I hope never to see again.

Lindy

I put something similar on the thread about Mike Tyson's little daughter.

Paddling pools with just rain water in can be as dangerous if a toddler slips and falls face down, it only takes 2" of water to drown a little one.

I can't understand parents who profess to love their children but don't take good care of them

Lizxx

That's strange: yesterday (or the day before?) I posted on this, or an identical, thread, but now it's gone! Another glitch, perhaps .....
x

Morning Ladies,

Glenys,

You are right dear you did post on an identical thread and I did answer you on chat.....lol..

Lindy xxx

There was story of a little boy of 3 who died in a pond in yesterday papers. He had copied his older sister and climbed over a fence (using a chair) into the grounds of an empty house and drowned in the pond. Perhaps owners should be told to cover ponds if they move out or are away. l think there have been other drownings in recent weeks of toddlers:o((

We had a tiny pond at the bottom of the garden until last yr when l decided it should be filled in, its not seeable from the patio nor upstairs (extra growth of shrubs etc), and now that we have 2 grandchildren who can and will climb/run anywhere it had to be done!!

jude xx

OMG Jude,

That is so very sad it makes me want to cry.

Over here there are children that will just walk onto someone's property and take a quick dip in the pool in they can get away with it. It happens a lot. Most people turn a blind eye but what if one of those children drowned who would be held responsible.?

A couple of summers ago a young man took on a summer job cleaning pools, he drowned when he slipped and fell in because he could not swim.

The mind boggles at such needless tragedy.

In my school days we had swimming lessons one afternoon a week. They don't have swimming lessons in the schools over here. We paid for private lessons for our boys during one winter in a heated pool, belonging to one of the hotels. It meant taking them two evenings a week, that was the only time they could go as they had school all day.

Lindy xx

I was one of the unfortunate ones, who was not taught to swim at school because the war was on, and can you imagine getting kids undressed in a pool and the siren going to warn of an air raid.
Needless to say, I have tried and tried, had lesson upon lesson, but was never able to grasp how to swim to my utter dismay.

Mo

The saddest part about it, other than the tragedy of the death of a small child, is that these little ones rarely drown in their own pools... they often don't have one, and I have heard people say that they won't have one because they have children.

This is good, but a child is naturally inquisitive... they are programmed to learn by mimicking and trying things out for themselves... so a neighbouring pond or pool, Grannie's pond, or a close relative's pond has double the attraction... a new place to learn and explore, and a sense of adventure/natural curiosity leads them straight into trouble!! Wow... it's a new and exciting toy!!

Which leads me to a controversial ponder..... I wonder if these tots would be alive if they had grown up respecting ponds and pools, and so they had become boring and not exciting and new..... I am not saying that every home should now have a pond if there are children in it, lol.... but just wonder if the child's natural curiosity is satisfied earlier, at an age when they are less likely to get into trouble, if they are familiar with them???

Love

Daff xxxx

We almost lost my 2 yr old granddaughter in a pool and there were adults in the pool at the time, she had left the "safety" room where all the children were being looked after. The paediatrician said she survived because her "in the womb lung mechinism" was still functioning, but she did have a lung infection and was in hospital for a few days.

Please if you have children have a look at the website which shows the video about how to teach babies from I think 6 months to survive in water. The video shoes a baby underwater performing the technique fully clothed with shoes on. It is a remarkable achievement and is now saving many lives. I think if you type in "baby water survival technique" or similiar, you can find out if there is a class near by.

Morning Everyone,

Sorry but did not have a chance over the weekend to get back to my thread.

Mo,

My Mum never learnt to swim either and was afraid of water, apparently she was pushed into the deep end of a public pool when she was a teenager and it traumatized her. When we were children we spent many an afternoon at the local public pool. As soon as we could swim four lengths there and back Mum would come and see for her self and we would earn a whole one rand note which those days was a lot of money for a kid.

Daff,

In all honesty I cannot say, we moved to a house with a pool when my boys were 12 and 10 and they lived in the pool during the summer months. We had a golden rule that nobody was allowed to swim in the pool on their own ever. A rule which I have often broken especially when in the early hours of the morning the sweat is just pouring off of you. I slip downstairs and quietly slip into the the pool but sticking to the shallow end, the only draw back it the full scale mosquito attack. Now a days OH and I spend more time in the pool then the boys as they prefer the beach.

Chica,

My cousin and I were pregnant at the same time me with my first her with her second. Her three year old could swim like a fish. Her baby was born in June and when baby was three months old she invited me, heavily pregnant to go with her to see how an instructor teaches little babies to swim, with the Mother's there in the water with them.

I thought my waters were going to break, my heart stop and I had a terrible urge to jump in and rescue the baby. They float on there backs the first time they are put in the water, some of the babies who were a few months older would scream blue murder when taken out of the water. I am afraid that I am far too much of a coward to do this.

When my boys were babies and had to have their vaccinations I cried with them. One old cow of a nurse asked me why was I crying as it was hurting the baby and not me I could happily have throttled her.

Have a nice day everyone.

Lindy ;)))