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.

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.)

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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.