Viral Pool Playpen ‘Hack’ Goes Against Safety Guidelines

As dad and mom, we’re all the time in search of quick and easy hacks to make our lives a bit much less hectic. Some ideas and methods on social media are lifesavers, to make sure. However in response to a TikTok creator who can also be a mother and a pediatrician, “there isn’t any such factor as a life hack or a parenting hack on the subject of water, and pool safety, and your kids.”

The creator, who shares content material utilizing the deal with @niky.mamamd, stitches collectively one other TikTok that has been considered 2.7 million occasions, and preferred near 150,000 occasions for example her must-see level.

Within the authentic video, we see a mother explaining how her “hack” permits dad and mom to swim within the deep finish of a pool, whereas their little ones chill in a playpen or pack ‘n play positioned within the shallow finish of the pool.

The creator, who’s debunking this shortcut to summer time enjoyable, calls the hack “a literal tutorial of learn how to arrange a demise lure in your pool,” and swears that her very robust assertion shouldn’t be an exaggeration.

“The quantity of water in that playpen is sufficient for a toddler to drown simply,” she emphatically states. The pediatrician goes on to say {that a} baby can drown in a matter of seconds, and with adults within the deep finish of the pool, there merely wouldn’t be sufficient time for a rescue.

To those that marvel how the playpen positioned in inches of water may very well be a toddler drowning hazard when toddlers are sometimes positioned in bathtubs or kiddie swimming pools with the identical quantity of water, the physician clarifies that these conditions are additionally harmful, and have led to drownings. 

The most important takeaway she desires dad and mom to grasp is that infants and young children ought to be supervised, inside arm’s attain, always within the water, it doesn’t matter what. “Don’t take your eyes off of your kids when they’re in any quantity of water,” the creator stresses, happening so as to add, “So please cease in search of hacks on the subject of pool and water safety.” 

As a mother of a toddler, I discovered this video haunting, particularly since we’ve got a pool at dwelling, and despite the fact that I believe all dad and mom imagine we’re doing every thing we will to maintain our small kiddos protected round water.

In our case, the pool is surrounded by a fence that my son is much too small to unlock. The outside doorways to the home are all geared up with a security function that asserts when somebody enters or exits. Once we’re exterior having fun with pool time, in fact, I attempt to watch the little man like a hawk—however with different youngsters additionally splashing round, and that I must supervise, I’d be mendacity if I stated I used to be within arms reach of my toddler each single second. 

Grateful for the reminder on TikTok about simply how harmful the water might be when you could have littles round, and the way straightforward it may be for toddlers to drown “in a matter of seconds,” I turned to Samantha McDaniel, Head Web site Coach of the Palencia St. Augustine Cyclones swim staff in St. Augustine, Florida for extra recommendations on water security with small youngsters.

McDaniel, who additionally lifeguarded for eight years on the seaside and the pool, watched the TikTok. “That physician is aware of what she’s speaking about,” she says. She seconds the notion the playpen hack could be very harmful.

“After I lifeguarded, many of the rescues I had have been kids with flotation devices,” McDaniel provides. In different phrases, even when a toddler is sporting a flotation system, accidents can simply occur. There may be merely no substitute for being near your baby—together with your eyes on them always—when water is concerned.

McDaniel, stresses that “merchandise—with good intent—dad and mom see in shops, give them a false sense of safety.” The identical might be stated for the playpen concept. Finally, she desires all dad and mom of littles to know, “We are able to solely assure security with our eyes on, and being at arms attain.”