BenignVanilla m wrote in
message ...
"Wilson" wrote in message
...
snip
My wife actually had the best idea of the day...since ours is basically
"just" a waterfall then why not cover the entire basin(for now) using
the
grill and decorate (hide) it with really nice decorative rock and have
the
falls...disappearing into the ground, then in a couple of years turn it
into
a VF when I add a pond.

I think this might be the way to go until our boy get's some (sense) age
on
him
snip

IMHO...there are three solutions to pond safety. I use items 2 and 3
diligently.

1) Do not have a pond if you cannot control the children that will be
exposed to it.

cough I "almost" spit out a mouthful of coffee when I read that....

My child that I could not control is 20 months old this month and is a very
active, curious and fast It's one thing to control and teach a 3-5 yr.
old the dangers of the pond but it's almost impossible to do the same with a
toddler....the problem is we took our eye off our son for a split second and
he was head first, it's easy to say you don't take your eye off the little
ones but we all know that we all do.

2) Teach the children over and over again about the dangers of the pond,
and
why they should not go near the pond without an adult. Helps to allow one
to
fall in while you are standing there.

IMHO it's be hard to "allow" my son to fall in to teach him a lesson that
he'll forget in 2.5 minutes anyway, my son's favorite word is water and we
just can't keep him out of our fountain, the waterfall(obviously) or away
from a spraying hose....


3) NEVER leave children unattended around a pond.

I believe that no amount of security systems are fool proof, and in some
ways can be dangerous because they could potentially allow you to become
complacent. Our kids do not go in our yard without some attention now, and
they know not to go near the pond without my wife and I. Of course, we
have
caught them venturing closer some days, now that we have frogs, so see
rule
number 3.

BV.

When my son fell in we were approx 2-3 feet away from him shrug......I'll
figure out some way to kid proof my falls, whether it's having just a small
amount of water or completely blocking the basin from him because it's
IMPOSSIBLE to watch your kids 24/7/365 (btw I hate that term and I can't
believe I just used it) no matter how good your intentions are. I also want
to make it so he can enjoy the backyard and everything in it ....in safety.

I will figure it out.


~Wilson~