I Won’t Let My Child Be Another Pool Drowning Stat

That said, a home with a pool and small children can’t truly be a safe haven without safeguards in place, such as a pool safety fence. I quickly learned that if I had gone with a second-rate fence, my youngest could have easily been part of this national drowning statistic:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “The #1 cause of death in children ages 5 and under is unintentional drowning.”*

All children are not created equal where abilities are concerned.

My oldest son was practically born with gills. He took to the water like a fish before the age of two.

We spent most of our time on the water—in fact, our oldest had his first solo sailing experience when he was four—so we had minimal concerns being around the water. However, my youngest son had zero innate swimming skills, which came as a surprise given his older brother’s abilities. You might say our baby had a gift for negative buoyancy.

When he was still an infant, with his “dive reflex,” or bradycardic response, still intact, I took him swimming. He was a sinker. So when it came to owning a home with a pool, there was no question in the matter… we needed a pool safety fence.

Our youngest also had an attraction to little parts. He was specifically interested in the fence’s closure mechanism. Every chance he’d get, he would work his little fingers trying to defeat the sophisticated fence lock to no avail. The fact is: having a pool safety fence alone doesn’t protect against accidents. People make mistakes, especially in a family with children ranging from teens to toddlers. Thankfully, Protect-A-Child was one step ahead of human carelessness.

On a handful of occasions, the fence was left unlatched, but because of the twist and lock feature of the fence posts, the effectiveness of our fence prevailed, and my baby was never in danger of gaining unsupervised access to our pool. Believe me, the durability was tested daily over the course of three years in a home with all boys, and I am proud to report zero incidents.

Protect-A-Child took user error into account when creating their best-in-class fences, incorporating multiple layers of protection. And it’s because of their commitment to excellence that I believe my family reaped the rewards of pool safety.

If you are interested in getting a fence for your pool, visit the pool fence dealer page to locate your local dealer.