Swimming pools are great for summer fun and provide a wonderful way for children to get exercise. However, swimming pool safety is at the top of every parents mind who has a pool. And it should be, as about 300 children under the age of 5 drown every year, and thousands more visit the hospital because of near-drowning. 

If you have small children and a pool, it's imperative that you implement swimming pool safety measures to keep your children safe.  As a fellow pool owner, here are some tips that I hope will help you.

1. Place locks on your doors that lead to the pool so that small children can't get outside. If they know how to open a locked door, consider putting a lock high on the door where they can not reach it.  You can also buy door alarms that will sound anytime a door is opened.  

2. Consider purchasing pool safety alarms for your pool. These can either be floats that you put in your pool that will sound an alarm when the water moves, or electronic eyes that will sound an alarm when they detect motion in the pool. They even have ones that come with a bracelet you can put on your child. If the bracelet comes into contact with any water, an alarm will sound in your home. Some of the pool safety alarms have the capability to hook up to your home monitoring system.  Check Consumer Reports for ratings before you purchase one of these as some work very well and others don't work well at all.  They are a wonderful way to give you peace of mind, though. 

3. As soon as your children are old enough to understand that word, "No" start to teach them the importance of staying away from swimming pools without adult supervision.  Whatever your most serious punishment is, use it when your child disobeys rules about using the pool  as their life is at risk.

4. If you have an above-ground pool, make sure that you take the stairs away from the pool when the pool is not in use.  This will help deter children from getting into the pool.  

5. Sometimes swimming pool safety is hard to achieve because it's not your pool that is causing the problem.  All homeonwer's associations and states have laws about fencing around pools. If you have a neighbor that does not have fencing around their pool, ask them to install it. If they don't, report them to your homeowner's association (if you have one) and local agencies so they can force them to comply. I don't usually encourage neighbor issues, but when children's safety is at stake, it's very important!

6. Teach your children to swim as young as possible.  We taught our three-year old to swim, and I know children much younger than her that swim well.  Children still need lots of supervision by the pool, but knowing that they at least know the basics of swimming will give you some added peace of mind.

7. Set rules about swimming and stick to them.  Make sure your children and their friends are well aware of your swimming pool safey rules.  

8. If you have a pool, make sure that you talk to your children's friends parents to learn about their swimming skill before you allow them to swim in your pool.  As soon as any child comes to your home, make sure you let them know about your rules. If your child is going to a friend's home who has a pool, talk to their parents about your child's abilities and your rules for them swimming. Make sure they don't allow young children to swim without supervision.  

Since we live in Hawaii, swimming is one of our favorite things to do all year. However, swimming pool safety is the most important thing that we need to consider as a family.