stupid grandpa!!

[karol]

 family and i were down on dewart lake and saw a grandpa fishing off his dock with his little girls and the little kids had no life jackets on and of course one of the girls fell in!
  almost said something but my wife said not to, would you've said something?
  if their around the dock life jackets should be on right? the new ones aren't so bulky like they used to be so why not? maybe now they will since i'm sure he'll be more careful..karol

[djkimmel]

It's something many people wouldn't think of I'll bet. Sounds like a situation where life jackets would have been a good idea, but since they weren't in a boat they don't have to have life jackets. Not needing them legally doesn't mean they wouldn't be a good idea.

Sometimes I think people who are infrequent about things like having youngsters around water probably don't think about 'what if.' I try to. We took our Godchildren to the lake last summer and being there was 3 of them and I'm getting a little slower, I had the youngest wear a life jacket while around the lake shore and kept several floating things around for the older kids. When the went out on a floating raft, I tied a rope to their float and tied it to the dock so I could haul them back without having to swim out to them though I had my boat right there too at the dock and could jump in that if for some strange reason they tried to float away. Of course, with the rope only so long, they couldn't get too far away anyway.

Of course, in the boat they all wore their life jackets the whole time.

[thedude]

i would probably make kids wear a life jacket - but at the same time i think about my childhood and never ever wearing a bike helmet and never wearing a life jacket on the docks up in canada when i was 9-13 years old, riding in the jump seat in the back of a woodie station wagon with no seatbelt..... kids are weak nowadays.

[Frank]

this is a good topic.  The way I read the refulation change this year, children 5 and under must wear a life jacket while the gas motor is on.  I have always had my daughter wear hers while it is on, though now she is 6 and I don't think she has to.  I assess the situation and decide if she needs it or not.  If its rough water and there are lots of boats out I usually make her wear it.  If it's calm and were alone on the lake I don't.  I have only a 40hs so we don't go really fast, 25 to 30 mph maybe.  When were actually fishing she does not wear it.  Some people have given me funny looks, and my mom even thinks it should always be on her.  I think, hey, were in 4 feet of water, she can touch, and she could actually swim across the whole lake if I let her.  I'm a good swimmer, but my 6 tear old can outswim me, she swims about 20 hours a week so she has rediculous amounts of stamina.  If she fell out of the boat, it would not be much different than if she jumped out of the boat, (which she does when swimming).  So, what are your thoughts on this?  Should she always wear it?  or is she safe without it?

Frank

[Dan]

There is a sign at the ramp at Dale Hollow. It reads something like, "1,468 people have drown on Dale Hollow. None were wearing life jackets."
I always felt that the lesson of being safe was very important to instill in my kids, so even if it wasn't "terribly dangerous" my kids wore their life jackets. They make some pretty comfortable ones. Check out canoe life vests, they are made for safety and comfort allowing a full range of unimpeded motion.
As they got older, the rule was when out alone in a boat, at any time you wore a vest. I follow that rule always and have invested in inflatable suspender type PFDs to make sure that the comfort factor is not an issue. I wear it when I'm alone even when the big motor is not on.
My kids grew up on a lake and as soon as they were able to, we had them in the pool taking lessons. They swam for years on a local swim team. I wanted to touch all the bases.
Even now, when they are grown men, I make sure my water craft are equipped with gazillion beam spot lights and have the best throwables on board. I worry that at night when they are jumping off the pontoon or one of the other boats that someone might hit their head. Being able to see and find them would be critical. I also carry a gazillion beam rechargeable spotlight in my bass boat for the same reason. Small price to pay.
I have a buddy who's a marine officer. Just last year he pulled two guys out of Lake Michigan. Both had spent the night in the water during the summer when they sunk their boat within sight of shore. They got separated. One lived, the other, not wearing a PFD drown.

[djkimmel]

Yes. It is always good to bring up and discuss safety issues. Make every think about it again.

I've been wearing my automatic inflatable now most of the time when I'm alone. We always tend to think it won't happen to us. But that was probably what the poor people who do drown were thinking too...

[Mike S.]

All of my kids wear their life jackets while on the boat.....no matter what.  We almost lost one in Grand Haven 4 years ago.  We were beached with a few other boats, and all the kids were swimming while the adults were talking.  The kids were all jumping from the sun deck of our Sea Ray, and we thought nothing of it.  Well, my son decided to shed his jacket and bail off the boat.  My brother in law and I were talking and he just happened to look down and see my son going under and looking up at us.  I don't totally blame my son for that, because I should have been paying more attention.  But we got lucky, as many people don't.  Lesson learned.

[mikesmiph]

In my boat, lifejackets are worn when the gas motor is on. Depending on the wave and boat traffic, I have let Veronica take hers off I think once, when we were fishing. The younger ones never take them off.

[djkimmel]

I was under water between 4 and 5 minutes when I was about 5 years old. Big family. Lots of screaming and splashing. Easy to miss one kid.

I still get a feeling of dread every time I can't see the bottom anymore. I try to use that feeling to keep everyone else safe in my boat. But I'm human... Keep reminding ourselves of that definite weakness... frailty. Over and over.

And because I do have a hard to control fear of water, I try to keep my humanness from putting me in a situation where I have to test my fear against helping someone by trying to make sure bad things never happen in the first place!