Floaties and life jackets are intended solely for use in open water situations. "Coast Guard Approved" lifejackets and floatation devices are meant to be use by all persons when on a boat, when in open water, or when doing water sports such as skiing and wake boarding.
There are no Coast Guard-Approved floaties for the pool! The Coast Guard does not approve floaties for learning to swim, and floaties marketed as such are causing a lot of harm and, in fact, increase the risk of drowning in children.
The 4 Major Problems With Floaties:
1. Floaties Teach Bad Habits
Floaties teach children several bad habits when worn in the water. The most dangerous one is that they encourage a vertical position in the water rather than the proper horizontal position necessary for swimming.
Even for the kids who do figure out how to get some what horizontal with a floatie on, they learn another bad habit- that it is ok or normal to have your face out of the water when swimming. In order to swim efficiently your face should be in the water. Please read, "Why Children Must Learn to Swim Without Goggles" to learn more about the importance of swimming with your face in.
Another bad habit that floaties teach is that children can just "chill-out" and do nothing in the middle of the pool. Floaties make children lazy in the water, and the middle of the pool is the last place we want our child to be lazily doing nothing. Since they become accustomed to just floating around wherever while wearing the floaties, when they take them off, they tend to try to do the same thing, rather than trying to swim to the wall or stairs.
2. Floaties Provide A False Sense Of Security
This is true for the child AND the parents. For children they get used to "safely" being able to go wherever in the pool. They can even become confident and think that they know how to swim! Not realizing that it is only with the floatie that they are staying afloat on their own.
I have seen this confidence first hand lifeguarding at birthday parties. In one particular instance, a child was going down the slide into the pool, jumping off the side into the pool, and swimming all around- with a floatie on.
Then the parents took it off when she sat down to eat some cake. She ate a couple bites then got up and ran to go down the slide. The parents were too slow to stop her, but luckily the other lifeguard on duty was closer and also saw her when she started running without the floatie on and grabbed her out of the water the second she hit it.
This child had zero respect for the reality of jumping into water because she had always worn a floatie when in the pool. Learn how to raise children that respect the water without fearing it by reading this article.
But children aren't the only ones getting a false sense of security when they wear floaties! Parents also think that their child wearing the floatie makes them exempt from having to pay 100% attention to the child in the pool. This is completely NOT the case for two reasons.
The first- remember that false sense of security that the child gets from the floaties? Well, that means they literally think they know how to swim. So savvy children learn how to take the floaties off. Especially when they see their friends or older siblings swimming without them, they want to be cool too!
Even the more timid children that wouldn't take the floaties off can slip out of them. Especially the infamous inflatable "water wing" floaties!
The second reason parents are not exempt from having to pay attention when their child is in the pool with a floatie is that some floaties can even cause a child to get stuck upside down. As in, with their feet up and their head submerged. Still a vertical position, but definitely not the one the parent was hoping for when putting the floatie on the child.
3. Floaties Make Children Develop A Fear Of Water
Similar to how ISR classes can cause children to be scared of the water, floaties can cause children to develop a fear of water without the floaties on. Even the falsely confident ones that try to jump in without them. After learning that they actually cannot swim whether in swim class or after boldly trying, they become extremely fearful.
This then makes it very difficult to teach them how to swim. The older the child, the worst this fear gets ingrained into them. They become very attached to the floaties, and won't want to or understand why they have to learn to swim without them.
The floaties also cause fear of the water because they constantly keep the child's face out of the water. So when they don't have the floaties on, and their face goes under they get shocked, confused and fearful.
4. Floaties Un-Teach Progress A Child Has Made In Swimming Lessons
This goes back to floaties teaching bad swimming habits. Floaties encourage a child to be in a vertical drowning position rather than a horizontal swimming position. Even after a child completes a learn-to-swim-program, wearing a floatie can undo their progress. I have experienced this firsthand in my lessons.
I teach a child to swim. Tell the parents 'no more floaties!'. They have some kind of weekend pool party or play date where they want the false sense of floatie security. During the next lesson, the child appears to be trying to stand up in the pool rather than swimming with their face in - which is the way I have taught thousands of students.
The Key Takeaways:
If your child is already wearing floaties in the pool make sure to enroll them in swimming lessons as soon as possible AND discontinue use so you don't undo lesson progress!
Remember, floaties do not guarantee safety and actually cause more harm than good. You should always get in the pool with your child if they do not know how to swim. Once they do know how to swim, constant supervision is always necessary. Even Michael Phelps could drown if he bumped his head and fell unconscious in the pool.
Proper swim education begins at home! Prep your child for swimming lessons from a young age. Learn when and how to begin encouraging independence in the water.
Enroll your child in swimming lessons from a young age, so they can learn the necessary life-saving and water safety skills to keep them safe.
Written by Cat V
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