Comment on Taking a spin around the pond in my boat
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 5 days agoIt doesn’t really matter.
I’m gonna guess that your comment was a little tounge-in-cheek, but for people who don’t really know, if the water is deeper than about an inch and a half, you can drown in it. How well you can swim doesn’t really matter either, because the problem isn’t swimming, the problem is how you ended up in the water in the first place.
Jumping into the water when you are in the proper attire, and ready for it, is a relatively harmless situation, and even the most mediocre swimmers would have no issue keeping their head above water. Suddenly being in the water, upside-down, wearing pants, shirt and shoes (or even more clothing), is an entirely different situation that is dangerous even to experienced swimmers. Even worse, you may not be all the way in the water, your foot or leg may have been tangled during your fall, so just the top half your body is in the water, and now you need to get almost your entire weight lifted out of the water just to grab a breath.
This is why lifejackets are essential for any kind of boating. They don’t actually add that much buoancy to you (most people naturally float) but they add bouancy to your chest, and neck to keep your head out of the water if you are incapacitated.
Having a playhouse boat on a pond, like the picture, is very risky. Unless you are treating it like a real boat, and making sure that your kid treats it like a real boat too, then you are asking for a tragedy.
OwOarchist@pawb.social 5 days ago
Eh…
If the water is like 2ft deep, being surprised and wearing full clothing still won’t be that big of a deal. Sure, it’s possible to drown in just a few inches of water … but only if you’re unconscious, severely injured, or very very very stupid.\
And, yeah, clothing and surprise can make it a bit harder to swim … but speaking from experience, it’s not that fucking hard. Just last summer, I was in a canoe that overturned in the middle of river rapids, wearing shoes, cargo pants with full pockets, full clothing, even a big sun hat. Completely unexpectedly. And … even in rough, cold, fast flowing water, I was fine. Even managed to keep my hat on. And then swim around to collect some of the gear that had come out of the boat before making my way to the side of the river. I didn’t find it all that much more difficult to swim that way. And I’m a pretty mediocre swimmer. Meanwhile my girlfriend, quite a good swimmer, kept with the boat and dragged it to the side of the river. (Luckily we were already past the part of the rapids with the shallower rocks – that might have been more of a problem.)
Now, I know I know – it can be dangerous. But I think people here are greatly exaggerating just how dangerous it really is.
And I really think that if the water is shallow enough for the kids to stand up in and/or the kids know how to swim well, it will be fine. Maybe don’t let really young kids play there without close supervision … but really young kids should probably be closely supervised anyway, no matter where they’re playing.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Drowning is the number 6 leading cause of death for children in the US. It would be number 4 if it weren’t for our fondness of firearms and cars.
3 children a day drown in the US, that’s not counting the kids that almost drown, and end up with life-altering consequences from it.
Water is dangerous, hands down. An innocuous mistake around water can lead to your permanent disability or even death in just a few minutes. Treat it with respect.
OwOarchist@pawb.social 4 days ago
I’m betting that the vast majority of those drowning deaths are of kids who don’t know how to swim.