For the kids...

[USCG_Hurricane_Watcher]

Reading the message boards this morning getting caught up on some recent cases...It's not even Memorial Day yet and you would think by the numbers , it's mid-July.

Please please please...if you take your kids on the water, make sure they're wearing a life jacket, a CG-approved life jacket. If you don't know if it is CG-approved or not, look at the large label inside. There should be a CG Approval number as well as the stamp of the Marine Underwriters Laboratory - that's how you tell. You get an unapproved knockoff, it may not perform as indicated.

[Persepone]

The first thing that is important is that kids have and wear a CG approved life jacket.

However, do consider spending the extra money for a COMFORTABLE one so the kid will wear it properly and not try to take it off, shift it around, etc.

I get the zip-on ones for my grandchildren that are fairly thin and are like sleeveless jackets. They can/do wear them all day in comfort and without complaint.

By the way, we make the kids wear them on fairly large commercial boats where life jackets are not required. Those boats carry life jackets in lockers for "emergency" but kids can fall overboard in a heartbeat and if there were an emergency on those large boats (e.g., ferries, whale watching boats) I think it would be very difficult to quickly find the child's jackets in emergency as you would have zillions of people fighting for the life jackets! It's just easier to have the jackets on the kids when they get on the boat...

Also, if you buy life jackets that actually fit the child properly, not only are they more comfortable, but they probably work better. Luckily we've never had to test this theory. However, with 5 kids, the life jackets do add a little margin of safety, I think, should there ever be an emergency. I can't imagine having to locate jackets and put put 5 kids into them quickly once an emergency is declared on something like a ferryboat...

The jackets I'm thinking of are NOT CHEAP and come from Boating Supply Stores (e.g., West Marine) and you have to buy them early in the season to get a good selection. I do think they are worth the money.

By the way, even though the kids do not live here--they live quite far inland--they still get a lot of use out of them each year. And, even though they know how to swim, they get to wear them while jumping the waves, etc. at the shore... The ocean is very different from swimming in a pool, a lake, etc.

[weathermom]

There was a case here in NJ recently, Cape May I believe, where an 11 or 12 year old boy scout fell off of a whale watching boat and hasn't been found.

I firmly believe that any child who cannot swim should be in a lifejacket ANY time they are around water. I get upset when I see parents putting little "swimmies" on their kids arms, or using those bathing suits with the flotation built in. The only thing these items do is cause a false sense of security for the parent and the child.

[DaylilyDawn]

Any time we take our grandson to the beach, he wears a life jacket when he is in the water because he doesn't know how to swim. He likes to be in the water with his grandpa but the water is over his head where grandpa is so he has to have the life jacket on at all times. When my kids were young they took swimming lessons as soon as they were old enough. My youngest son took a dive off the High dive at an Olympic size pool after having his first lesson and made it safely to the side of the pool . Since then he is never far from water . He is in the Navy now. Petty Officer 2nd class on board the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt stationed in Norfolk, VA.