Originally Posted by sharlan:
I totally disagree with your post. All children need to learn how to swim and be able to get themselves safely to the edge. All of my daycare kids use my pool. The only reason the 2 yo wasn't in it today is because she was asleep while the others were swimming. (I was outside, my dh and dd were inside.) I see to it that the kids learn to swim the summer after their 3rd birthday. The have to wear life jackets until they're tall enough to stand with their head above the water, but they still know how to swim by age 3 1/2.
We have a pool because our family wants one.
We don't have one right now, but did for years. I agree kids need to learn to swim. All of my own kids learned to swim before they were 4. I had a 3yo 25 lbs dynamo that could swim like a little fish, thanks to daily exposure.
It can be done safely. We removed the ladder (above ground) and put on a tight cover. The pool was also alarmed, so if the water was disturbed by anything larger than 10lbs, the noise would go off (never happened)