Families are heading to beaches, pools and lakes this holiday, so it’s a good time to remind everyone of essential water safety tips for families. According to AAA Travel, Florida is the top choice for a spring break destination, due to its warm weather, pools, beaches, outdoor adventures, and cruise ports.
Spring Breakers say “Take Me to the Water”
Findings agree with those of a recent Allianz Partners’ survey which analyzed more than 3.4 million flight itineraries insured by Allianz Travel Insurance. Allianz found that 76% of spring break itineraries are for domestic travel and 24% are for international trips. The top 10 destinations for the three-quarters of Americans traveling domestically include five in Florida.
Allianz also found that, other than London, the top 10 international destinations for the 2024 spring break are tropical or Caribbean islands. Whether you are planning a cruise with kids, a theme park adventure, or heading anywhere with myriad swimming opportunities, these water safety tips are timely, too.
Six Important Tips: Swimming Safety for Kids
“Spring break is a wonderful time for families to have fun and relax by the water,” Chris DeJong, a five-time U.S. National Champion swimmer, says.
Thanks to him and the Big Blue Swim School for providing guidance and essential swim safety tips for the whole family. Big Blue was founded in 2009 by DeJong, and now has 30 pools offering instruction, with more to come across the U.S.
They have lots of experience in keeping swimmers safe and share their six top water safety tips for families.
1. Lifeguards are not babysitters.
Even with this important safety system in place at pools or beaches, adult supervision of their own children around water is essential.
2. Make yourself familiar with your destination’s pool or beach.
Get to know the pool and beach area where you are staying. Understand what safety measures are in place such as locked gates, fences, and other barriers.
3. Assign a Water Watcher to monitor everyone in the pool.
One essential water safety tip for families is to make someone a Water Watcher. This is an adult in your group who keeps a close eye on swimmers. Big Blue recommends rotating the Water Watcher every 30 minutes to avoid supervision fatigue.
4. Wear a life jacket around water.
Don’t have children wear just any life jacket. A properly fitting life jacket fits snug, is approved by the U.S. Coast Guard, and stays under a child’s chin when they lift their arms overhead.
5. Implement the buddy system.
Even if your child is a proficient swimmer or wearing a life jacket, drowning can still happen. All children swimming in water should be assigned a buddy to swim with who can raise the alarm if something seems off.
6. Prepare young swimmers to enjoy the water.
In addition to following our children’s water safety tips for famililes, prepare by enrolling everyone in formal swim lessons. The CDC notes that formal swim lessons reduce drowning by 88%. That makes year-round, formal swim lessons the best way to help a child be ready around the water.
Encourage water safety and promote a lifelong love of swimming
“Drowning isn’t always obvious,” Dejong adds. “Someone struggling may not yell for help, wave their arms, or thrash around. Constant, careful supervision is critical while children are near the water.”
Why not check your area for local swim schools and get the kids started right? Proper schooling in the swimming arts is just the first step to ensuring water safety for families.
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Have you ever actually traveled with kids? It doesn’t seem like it by the tone of this article.
Hello Dr Ramesh,
If both legal guardians or birth parents of the child are traveling with the child, you will not need any other documentation, except everyone’s visas and passports. Check with your employer about medical insurance. If they will not provide medical coverage overseas, you can inquire with your U.S. based insurance company about what they provide. Some travel insurance companies sell one-year policies to cover students studying overseas and that might be another option. Safe Travels!
Sir, we both are going Europe with work visa on base of permit. Taking our 3year old child with us. Any letter or medical form/ paper we need to carry with us?
A Great Family Activity and one that will bring the family back together in the future when they all grow up!!
Take a look at our adventures. https://www.youtube.com/user/00Shaddow00 . We just started doing this to bring the family together and stop wasting our time setting in front of the television. We are filming our trips to document our adventures to remember and to share with family and friends. Maybe to motivate others to get out there with there family.
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Dubai is such a nice place to stay and famous for its wonderful sightseeing’s attractions. The best trip is Dubai sightseeing’s tour and desert safari in Dubai. We had great time couple of years ago.
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Let me add http://www.babyquip.com to the list.
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Your blog helped me to plan my family trip to Bangkok and Pattaya. Just made a video blog out if it, https://youtu.be/tok17yOR1W8 please watch ang give feedback.
Ranch Vacation with family is a real fun. Here we spent quality time with each other. Truly said, we eat a lot and on-time as well. Riding is also a fun in ranch vacation, Created a perfect picture.
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We have actually done the ATV tour in Cozumel Mexico, and had an amazing time. We booked with Cozumel Cruise Excursions. Net which is a family business and we had an amazing time. Theres nothing better than going to another country and getting great customer service and amazing people as guides. I would highly recommend checking them out next time your in Cozumel http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.net
This sounds like so much fun! From the haunted houses to the different drinks offered. I didn’t know HHN was such a major part for Universal Orlando. Good to know! Thanks for the article!
Hello Annetta,
Yes, one Permission to Travel or Consent Letter can list more than one child on it, if the contact information for the legal guardians/birth parents is the same.
Safe travels!
Can I use one concept form to apply for two sibling from the same father
Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table,but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for all of these suggestions.
Chicago is a wonderful place to visit.
Excellent very nice! No doubt Dubai is very famous for more activities but desert safari is very unique activity.i love this one…
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Thanks, recommendation cheap hotels is very useful for the preparation of our vacation that will not be soon. Really nice!
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Our family of 3 adults booked a tour with Kalka Travels in April 2018. Our tour included transportation and accommodation in Delhi, Pushkar, Udaipur, Bundi, Jaipur and Agra. We then caught an overnight train to Varanasi where we met up with a third party contracted by Kalka Travel. Overall we were very happy with the tour company as they delivered on what we had pre-arranged with them. We upgraded our vehicle to a SUV rather than just a sedan, and added an elephant ride to Agra Fort, tickets to traditional dance show in Udaipur, a movie at the Raj Mandir theatre in Jaipur as well as water was supplied each day to us. All breakfasts were included. Our driver Ravinder was exceptional in that he was always on time and patient with us sometimes being late; the vehicle was always cleaned that morning and comfortable. He was highly attentive to our needs, very reliable, polite, and humorous, and told us what to expect at each stop. We always felt very safe with him as he was an excellent driver. His English was good in that we were able to ask many questions of him. Kalka Travels was flexible with our itinerary and our driver stopped at a few places that were not on our list of stops, unlike the other company we had considered booking who told us the drivers could not be flexible.Our wonderful driver, Ravinder, made our trip very special. Kalka Travels also only asked for a $100 deposit in advance and the remainder when we arrived in India, which put us at ease. Bobby Thakur was very quick to respond to any concerns we had. All in all, a wonderful vacation and experience with Kalka Travels.
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Great article & very practical. Thanks for all the tips – I’ll be thinking about them for a while as we work on our website redesign.
Great vacation ideas and post too..!!!
There are many famous forts and palaces along with wildlife sanctuaries and other monuments which has attracted thousands of visitors and some of them have become a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site as well.
We are completely in accord with these ‘not to miss 5 experiences in Dubai.’ We experienced them on a family trip last year. The one thing we missed out was the charter yacht. Now we have taken it as a priority for our next trip after reading your post.
Look like you had a great adventure trip. The ship looks awesome.
Dubai is amazing. I really enjoyed reading your article! 🙂
I just found a website that lists apple festivals all over the country! So you can find something in your area. They all seem a little bit different, which is fun. http://pickyourown.org/applefestivals.php
St john is more quite than other Caribbean islands. St John accessible only by ferry from the other U.S. Virgin Islands, St. John is a true gem in the Caribbean with crystal clear waters, lush green mountains and gorgeous white sand beaches. Though it is the smallest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands, St. John’s unspoiled beauty is perhaps the greatest found anywhere in the Caribbean.
Rajasthan is one of the most vibrant and colorful states in India with its rich culture and traditions since ancient times. It is known as the land of warriors and beautiful princess who even chose to die for saving their chastity and had a great affinity with their motherland. Whether it is the cuisine or the dress sense everything is unique about Rajasthan’s culture. There are many famous forts and palaces along with wildlife sanctuaries and other monuments which has attracted thousands of visitors and some of them have become a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. The famous sites are described in this blog which is good for the history lovers and for those people who want to explore more about the diversity of Rajasthan.
Being in the city of Royal Tents in Jaisalmer of moving sand ridges, you can’t get away from the seat travel. A rough ride on a camel in the Thar Desert is one of the energizing things to do in Jaisalmer Royal Camps. It enables you to investigate the remote and segregated spots tucked amidst the abandon. Absolutely, the additional time you give on your safari, the more remote spots you are probably going to see and the more you may acclimate to and appreciate the abandon serenity.
I am going to Dubai next month thanks for sharing this information will come in handy
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A rough ride on a camel in the Thar Desert is one of the energizing things to do in Jaisalmer Royal Camps. It enables you to investigate the remote and segregated spots tucked amidst the abandon.
I think that is a wonderful experience at Dubai. I’ve been to Dubai and it’s pretty