2019.04.18 - Which is the right age to let your kids go to the swimming pool by themselves?

Which is the right age to let your kids go to the swimming pool by themselves?

Teenagers don’t see the swimming pool as the place for relaxing, swimming or chilling with a book. They use the swimming pool to meet other people, have fun and strengthen their relationships; this is why they push things to the limit (or to the limit of the policy of the swimming pool) from time to time, causing a headache for the pool supervisor, their parents and the other guests. The outdoor sections of baths in Budapest and all over the country will open their gates soon. What needs to be taken into consideration as a parent of a teenager?

‘Mature’ adults do use beaches for regeneration, relaxing and meeting with the elements again, while this is just another competitive situation for teens. They don’t only compete with each other but with adults too, since they are constantly under pressure to prove something – especially boys who usually need to prove their strength or braveness, in order to be more popular in the crew, especially in the eyes of the girls. 

Who can jump the furthest from the banks? Who dares to slide down backwards on the slide? Who throws the ball the hardest into the pool? These questions need to be answered; laying, reading and discussing important things are not enough. The problem with these challenges is that they are dangerous, and all of them are forbidden by the policy of almost any bath. It is not by accident since these dares – besides the risk – disturb other guests. This is why pool supervisors are forced to pay great attention to teenagers. Why don’t they go to the banks of a river where there is no one to discipline them and nobody who they can disturb? Be happy if they don’t, since it is much more dangerous for them to fool around in a river without any adult supervision. By the way, this is also one of the reasons that swimming is forbidden in several rivers. 

Which is the ideal age to let them go by themselves?

Most swimming pools demand adult accompanying under the age of 14, but there are some where this age is 12 years. Besides this, baths regulate the age limit of the slides, saunas and thermal waters individually. So basically teens can go to the bath anytime they want. Parents don’t have other options but to tell them what to be careful with: ‘Don’t run around on the slippery floor! Wait for the one before you to slide all the way down! Respect the poor lifeguard!’ We can imagine the face of a teenager when we tell them these instructions. ‘Don’t jump on the head of other kids! Don’t swim across the lanes! Don’t push each other under the water! Don’t go into deep water!’ ‘Yeah, of course.’ – comes the answer.

By the way deep water! We should only let our children go by themselves if they can swim well. This thing needs to be focused on at a way younger age, since at the age of 16-18 teens tend to keep it a secret if they aren’t safe swimmers, which can cause real danger if they claim that they can swim while they can’t.

Statistics

It is good news to the parents of teens that according to statistics, teenagers aren’t the main victims of pool accidents. Weeds don’t spoil, cheeky teens usually get out of trouble, and in spite of the fact that they keep pushing things to the limit, they pay attention to their safety after all even, if the pool lifeguard doesn’t see it this way. The sad truth is that it is usually younger kids who get hurt, no matter that there are adults with them. Accidents can happen any time and parents can’t protect their children if they are sunbathing while their children are running around, sliding on the slides or looking for adventure in other pools since – let’s admit it – younger kids are famous for pushing their limits too, and afterwards it isn’t important who was responsible for the accident happening.