As the calendar turns to spring and we start planning for summer fun and beach or lake vacations, it’s a timely reminder that keeping children safe around water is one of the most important responsibilities we carry as parents. In fact, National Water Safety Month offers an annual refresher of the core pillars of water safety, which build on supervision, pool barriers, and what to do in an emergency.
However, for infants and toddlers, water safety goes beyond what happens on the surface. Young children don’t just swim in water. They drink it, breathe it in, and absorb it through their skin. Whether it’s a backyard pool, a bathtub, or the drinking water that fills their sippy cup, water quality has a direct impact on their health and it deserves the same attention we give to supervision and swim safety.
Water Safety Starts With the Basics
Before we get into water quality, it’s worth grounding everything in the fundamentals. Responsible parents know that no single layer of protection is enough on its own. The strongest approach stacks multiple layers together:
- Always supervise young children near water with full, undivided attention.
- Install and maintain proper pool barriers, including a four-sided fence with a self-latching gate.
- Know CPR and make sure other caregivers in your child’s life do too.
- Enroll your child in survival swimming instruction so they have self-rescue skills if the unexpected happens.
That last point is where survival swimming comes in. Unlike traditional lessons, survival swimming teaches children as young as six months to float independently, roll from face-down to back, and complete a swim-float-swim sequence to reach safety on their own. It is not a replacement for supervision. Nothing replaces proper and attentive supervision, but survival swimming is one of the most powerful additional layers a family can put in place. As important as learning to swim is, there is another layer of water safety that most families overlook and that is the quality of the water itself.
What About the Quality of the Water Itself?
For backyard pools, improper chemical balance can irritate young eyes and skin. Children enrolled in survival swimming programs spend significant time with their faces in the water, making this especially worth monitoring. A few things worth checking regularly:
- Test pool water at least weekly during swim season, and more frequently during periods of heavy use or hot weather.
- Keep pH between 7.2 and 7.8 and maintain appropriate sanitizer levels for your pool system.
- Shower children before and after swimming to reduce contaminant introduction and minimize chemical exposure.
- Never allow children to swim in water that looks cloudy, discolored, or has an unusual odor.
For families on private wells, which is quite common throughout Connecticut, drinking and bathing water deserves the same attention. Well water is not treated or monitored by a municipality. What comes out of your tap is entirely the homeowner’s responsibility to test and maintain. Common contaminants found in local groundwater include:
- Iron and manganese
- Arsenic and uranium
- Radon
- PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), man-made chemicals linked to health concerns that have been detected in water supplies throughout the region
Some of these have no color, no taste, and no odor. You simply won’t know they’re there without a test. Fortunately, our friends at Aqua Pump Co., a family-owned water services company that has been serving Connecticut and western Massachusetts for over 50 years, offer free in-office water testing for local families. Their certified professionals can identify contaminants, recommend filtration solutions, and help ensure the water your child drinks and bathes in is as safe as possible.
Putting Water Safety & Quality All Together
Water safety is not a single action. It’s a set of layers, and the more layers you have in place, the better protected your child is. As you head into the summer months, here’s a quick checklist to work through:
- Enroll your child in survival swimming lessons to build real self-rescue skills.
- Keep up with group classes and annual refreshers to maintain those skills year over year.
- Test your home well water annually with a certified professional.
- Monitor pool chemistry weekly throughout the swim season.
- Shower children before and after pool time.
- Never leave young children unsupervised near any body of water, no matter their skill level.
At Infant Aquatics CT, water safety is our top priority for your child, and we are here to help. If you haven’t enrolled your child in survival swimming lessons yet, we’d love to hear from you. We focus on helping your child become a safer, more confident swimmer in weeks, not years. Visit us to explore our options and let’s work together to ensure your child has a secure and enjoyable swimming experience!