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#1
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Pond & young children.
I want to create a wildlife pond like in the link below
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/2000_1...tcm3-23191.jpg I am put off because i have a 5 & 3 year old.They would also love a shallow wildlife pond,i dont think a shallow pond with long pebbled beaches would trouble them.I know kids can drown in inches of water. i know you also need a deeper centre ,i was going to go 18 inch deepest.Should i wait till they are older , i could erect a cheap fence around the pond.My daughters school has done this,but they have more space.I am trying to talk myself into doing the pond ,but dont want to be constantly worried for them everytime they pop into the garden.Have any of you combined pond & kids or is this a leathal combination best left alone until the kids have grown up.What is a safe age ? Thanks Keith |
#2
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Pond & young children.
kenty wrote:
I want to create a wildlife pond like in the link below http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/2000_1...tcm3-23191.jpg I am put off because i have a 5 & 3 year old.They would also love a shallow wildlife pond,i dont think a shallow pond with long pebbled beaches would trouble them.I know kids can drown in inches of water. i know you also need a deeper centre ,i was going to go 18 inch deepest.Should i wait till they are older , i could erect a cheap fence around the pond.My daughters school has done this,but they have more space.I am trying to talk myself into doing the pond ,but dont want to be constantly worried for them everytime they pop into the garden.Have any of you combined pond & kids or is this a leathal combination best left alone until the kids have grown up.What is a safe age ? Thanks Keith Personally, I wouldn't consider a pond until children are much older. -- ßôyþëtë |
#3
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Pond & young children.
I want to create a wildlife pond like in the link below http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/2000_1...tcm3-23191.jpg I am put off because i have a 5 & 3 year old.They would also love a shallow wildlife pond,i dont think a shallow pond with long pebbled beaches would trouble them.I know kids can drown in inches of water. i know you also need a deeper centre ,i was going to go 18 inch deepest.Should i wait till they are older , i could erect a cheap fence around the pond.My daughters school has done this,but they have more space.I am trying to talk myself into doing the pond ,but dont want to be constantly worried for them everytime they pop into the garden.Have any of you combined pond & kids or is this a leathal combination best left alone until the kids have grown up.What is a safe age ? Thanks Keith You could cover the pond with a very substantial netting, preferably made of steel. Alan |
#4
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Pond & young children.
"kenty" writes
I want to create a wildlife pond like in the link below http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/2000_1...tcm3-23191.jpg I am put off because i have a 5 & 3 year old.They would also love a shallow wildlife pond,i dont think a shallow pond with long pebbled beaches would trouble them.I know kids can drown in inches of water. i know you also need a deeper centre ,i was going to go 18 inch deepest.Should i wait till they are older , i could erect a cheap fence around the pond.My daughters school has done this,but they have more space.I am trying to talk myself into doing the pond ,but dont want to be constantly worried for them everytime they pop into the garden.Have any of you combined pond & kids or is this a leathal combination best left alone until the kids have grown up.What is a safe age ? There's a reflex action to shut your mouth and not breathe when you find yourself under water - i understand that very young children don't do this, and open mouth and inhale ready to scream - hence drowning in a puddle. To stop you worrying, there's two ways 1) a fence 2) probably more secure - a weight-supporting grid over the whole pond The safe age is probably one you'll be best to assess yourself with knowledge of your kids. If you would feel safe with them playing in a fairly deep paddling pool without supervision, you are probably getting to the age where they'd be OK with a pond - this is probably a fair bit older than 3. You also have to think about other kids who will come to play in your garden, and to what extent you want to supervise them. -- Kay |
#5
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Pond & young children.
In article , K writes: | | To stop you worrying, there's two ways 1) a fence 2) probably more | secure - a weight-supporting grid over the whole pond There is a third way: be a little more rational, and resist the pressure to join in the mass hysteria. For heaven's sake, a child of 3 can just walk out of a shallow pond 18" deep! The risk is MUCH lower than not LOCKING up all of the household chemicals and many cooking supplies and carrying the key on your person. Children of 3 are quite intelligent enough to drag chairs to climb up on the chair backs to reach top shelves. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#6
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Pond & young children.
Nick Maclaren wrote: There is a third way: be a little more rational, and resist the pressure to join in the mass hysteria. For heaven's sake, a child of 3 can just walk out of a shallow pond 18" deep! The risk is MUCH lower than not LOCKING up all of the household chemicals and many cooking supplies and carrying the key on your person. Children of 3 are quite intelligent enough to drag chairs to climb up on the chair backs to reach top shelves. My childminder who looked after both my boys when little had a pond. She had a steel grid over it, sides tucked into the banks and it was so solid I could stand on it! I understand your frustrations over 'kids safety' but these days, I'm sorry to say that children are kept inside too much and they don't 'roam' like we used to in total freedom through fields, farms and near ponds and rivers. It very much depends on how you bring your kids up. I have had my boys up trees by the time they could climb a chair, swim in anything that has water in it and we put the tent up in gales, snow but sunshine too. In fact, they perhaps ate more up in their tree house than around the table ) It's good for kids to have nature so close - I'll say the OP should go for a pond and make it totally safe for his own sanity!! Check this link OP!!! http://www.pondsafety.com/ |
#7
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Pond & young children.
Nick, I wish children were all that rational. I work in an ER, and I
have seen the sad proof that sometimes, children don't get out of situations that perhaps they could, for one reason or another. I've seen poisonings, drownings, crushes, falls, etc. Children can be hurt very badly by some very simple circumstances. They just don't think, and they don't have the physical resources of adults, so when they get into trouble, things go south surprisingly fast, especially around water. An amount of water that we could just cough up can drown a baby very quickly. Think about how small a child's lungs are - they're tiny! Even a five or six year old has a very low capacity for processing water in their lungs. So it's not about whether or not they could climb out, it's about whether they accidentally drew in a big breath if they were to tip over or fall into a body of water. Water has the dubious honor of being one of the easiest ways for a child to die, and the easiest mistake to make. Luckily, it's also an easy mistake to prevent. Your suggestions of a fence or a grid are steps in the right direction. The author's concern is not hysteria, however, it's just caution. |
#8
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Pond & young children.
tenacity wrote: Your suggestions of a fence or a grid are steps in the right direction. The author's concern is not hysteria, however, it's just caution. I would say a fence is more dangerous as the kids are more likely to try to climb it and hurt themselves that way. I guess it's easy to have the "I used to do dangerous stuff all the time and I'm alright" argument but those who weren't alright can't speak for themselves now. |
#10
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Pond & young children.
..Have any of you combined pond & kids or is this a leathal
combination best left alone until the kids have grown up.What is a safe age ? Thanks Keith Having rescued an unconcious three year old from a neighbour's pond and brought it back to life thanks to Royal Life Saving Society instructions received a few years earlier, I say DON'T. Mike |
#11
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Pond & young children.
The message
from "kenty;\)" contains these words: Have any of you combined pond & kids or is this a leathal combination best left alone until the kids have grown up.What is a safe age Someone I know has a little girl permanently, severely physically and mentally disabled after she got her face into in a garden pond as a toddler. She was only out of adult view for minutes but her brain had been deprived of oxygen. There are lots of things which the children will enjoy far more when they are older and a pond is one.. Don't try to anticipate their growing up because this lovely pre-school stage passes all too fast. Enjoy them as "littles" for as long as you possibly can. Right now, a 3 year old will be blissfully happy with a washing up bowl of water and some plastic cups to throw it around with :-) Janet. |
#12
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Pond & young children.
"kenty" wrote in message ... I want to create a wildlife pond like in the link below http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/2000_1...tcm3-23191.jpg I am put off because i have a 5 & 3 year old.They would also love a shallow wildlife pond,i dont think a shallow pond with long pebbled beaches would trouble them.I know kids can drown in inches of water. i know you also need a deeper centre ,i was going to go 18 inch deepest.Should i wait till they are older , i could erect a cheap fence around the pond.My daughters school has done this,but they have more space.I am trying to talk myself into doing the pond ,but dont want to be constantly worried for them everytime they pop into the garden.Have any of you combined pond & kids or is this a leathal combination best left alone until the kids have grown up.What is a safe age ? Thanks Keith My suggestion is to build the pond you want in terms of shape, depth etc and fill it with cobbles and rocks amongst which you can have the odd water feature. At a future date you can start to remove the odd cobbles etc etc. |
#13
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Pond & young children.
Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote: [...] My suggestion is to build the pond you want in terms of shape, depth etc and fill it with cobbles and rocks amongst which you can have the odd water feature. At a future date you can start to remove the odd cobbles etc etc. That's the most elegant solution: in some situations it could even look better than a pond, but I bet the stones would go green. I've had experience building and maintaining a pond in a school: we used the steel grid suggested by others. 6" weldmesh is strong, and you may be able to scrounge a piece from a friendly building site. It goes rusty, though. -- Mike. |
#14
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Pond & young children.
I work as an EMT, and unfortunately, worrying about kids and water
isn't hysteria, it's wisdom learned the hardest way. A water feature that's screened or is a little brook over rocks would be beautiful and safe. There's no reason you can't have kids and ponds, as long as safety is your first concern. It sounds like that's the case, so good for you, Mom! |
#15
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Pond & young children.
In article .com, "tenacity" writes: | | I work as an EMT, and unfortunately, worrying about kids and water | isn't hysteria, it's wisdom learned the hardest way. It is hysterical to make a huge fuss over an unlikely cause of death while neglecting much more serious ones. It is hysterical to prevent small children being exposed to limited dangers, so that they are more endangered overall by being unprepared for more serious dangers of the same type. This over-reaction about the danger from shallow ponds is hysterical. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
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