Just Say No to Puddle Jumpers

🔷 Puddle jumpers teach unsafe swim habits and can contribute to drowning 🔷

Watch out, don’t fall for it. Even when they’re brightly coloured or covered in beloved animated characters…

Despite their popularity, puddle jumpers are actually very dangerous.

☀️ Puddle jumpers and arm floaties are notorious for impeding true water safety and swimming skills.

~They cause children to develop ineffective swimming posture - in a vertical position — head up, feet down, arms out — causing them to use more of a bicycling motion in the water.

~Without the floaty, the child is unable to tread water or swim with forward motion, this means they will immediately sink if they fall in or remove their floaty in open water.

~They give children and adults a false sense of security. Being able to float on your back, is the number one rule when an issue arises in the water. It’s imperative that a child knows how to successfully get to and hold this position should they fall into the water unexpectedly.

🏊‍♀️ Once your child has learned the basics of swimming and is comfortable around water…

☀️ Instead of using a puddle jumper, use a lifejacket whenever hands-on supervision is not possible.

-Unlike with puddle jumpers, if a child were to fall in the water, a life jacket will actually turn them from face down to face up in the water.

-Life jackets also allow for kids to swim horizontally and get their legs up to kick, creating better swimming habits for when they practice swimming without a flotation device.

‼️ Remember Swimming ALWAYS requires supervision.‼️