<story><title>Show HN: Spot the Drowning Child</title><url>http://spotthedrowningchild.com</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>irishcoffee</author><text>I would like to point out that any flotation device in a pool besides a life jacket is just asking for problems.&lt;p&gt;I life-guarded for almost 10 years, the only way I would ever let anything that supported a human floating __besides__ an approved life jacket was if the pool was almost empty (such that the one person got my undivided attention) and if I knew the child to already be a strong swimmer.&lt;p&gt;I highly encourage everyone reading this to not swim at pools that allow floats of any kind besides a life jacket, even something as simple as water wings. [0] It encourages kids to go deeper than they should, and if they fall off they&amp;#x27;re in big trouble. It creates the possibility for a child to get trapped under someone else, and a life guard has almost no chance in that scenario.&lt;p&gt;95% of guarding is preventive.&lt;p&gt;Neat site though.&lt;p&gt;[0] Water wings can create the situation where a child has their head underwater and their arms up above water, but they can&amp;#x27;t pull themselves up.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>carbeewo</author><text>When I was a young child, my local pool allowed kids to play on large floating foam rafts (like this, but half the length: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;goo.gl&amp;#x2F;7Y4HbU&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;goo.gl&amp;#x2F;7Y4HbU&lt;/a&gt;). One day I decided to show off my underwater swimming skills to a girl I fancied. After a long swim underwater, I exhausted my breath and came to resurface for air, only to get caught under a stacked pile of 5 of these rafts, with kids standing on top like in that photo! I panicked and didn&amp;#x27;t know what was going on. I don&amp;#x27;t remember what happened next, but I am told my father was watching me closely and jumped into the pool, pushed the mats off of me (thus throwing like 4 kids off the rafts into the water) and saved me.&lt;p&gt;Parents were angry at him for throwing their kids into the water. None of them even realized I had almost died. Not that I blame them though, it would probably look pretty funny to see a grown man knock 4 kids off some mats into the pool haha.</text></comment>
<story><title>Show HN: Spot the Drowning Child</title><url>http://spotthedrowningchild.com</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>irishcoffee</author><text>I would like to point out that any flotation device in a pool besides a life jacket is just asking for problems.&lt;p&gt;I life-guarded for almost 10 years, the only way I would ever let anything that supported a human floating __besides__ an approved life jacket was if the pool was almost empty (such that the one person got my undivided attention) and if I knew the child to already be a strong swimmer.&lt;p&gt;I highly encourage everyone reading this to not swim at pools that allow floats of any kind besides a life jacket, even something as simple as water wings. [0] It encourages kids to go deeper than they should, and if they fall off they&amp;#x27;re in big trouble. It creates the possibility for a child to get trapped under someone else, and a life guard has almost no chance in that scenario.&lt;p&gt;95% of guarding is preventive.&lt;p&gt;Neat site though.&lt;p&gt;[0] Water wings can create the situation where a child has their head underwater and their arms up above water, but they can&amp;#x27;t pull themselves up.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>z3t4</author><text>I was around four-five years old when I was first allowed into the deep pool with some float equipment. I was like a fish and liked diving. Couldn&amp;#x27;t swim though.&lt;p&gt;When I jumped into the deep pool my floating equipment was pushed off. I panicked and struggled for my life until I somehow got to the side and then managed to get up by myself. And no-one noticed.&lt;p&gt;I stayed away from deep water until I could swim properly.</text></comment>