Child proofing a pond

Counting_Pennies_2

In the house we will be moving to/buying in the autumn, there is a pond. I am trying to work out ways of child proofing it.

Much as it is not ideal for now, I can see in a few years time it will be very nice to have.

I gather it is possible to get a heavy duty wire put over the top so if a child falls on top they won't fall in.

Any idea of how I get this, and how it is installed?

Many thanks

annie123

You can put a rigid steel mesh over it.
Several of our local garden centres that sell ponds, sell steel mesh with fixing instructions, see if you can find one near you.

Your small person will still be able to watch pond wildlife safely.

hamsmith

we have a metal grid over ours. it is used for walkways. it is far too heave for a toddler to lift up as it took myself and my 12 year old to life it last month. the kids run accross it and the reads grow up and you can look down on the lilys.
i never have to worry about it.

Strapped

Personally, I would drain it. I have terrible fears about children and ponds. I was at a party on Saturday where someone had a pond with mesh across it, but some kids decided to lie on it and managed to break through. :eek: A neighbour of my stepdaughter lost her young grandson in their pond - terribly sad.

valk_scot

Depending on what the liner is made of you could part drain it and fill it in to make a bog garden. You'd still get frogs etc in the wet bits and be able to watch interesting wildlife but it would be far safer. I'd never have a pond in a garden with small kids tbh. Ponds are lovely and I dug one on my allotment when my DD turned 7 but she's never there without me. I certainly wouldn't have had one in the garden where she and her friends played without me close by. Even if one's own child is pretty trustworthy there's always small friends to worry about.

ixwood

Pond paranoia annoys me. As long as it's safe, why get rid of it?

Just put a grill over it, or fence it in.

Lotus-eater

My friend has a purpose built metal grill over his. You could walk on it if you wanted to. Heavy enough and fixed down so it can't move.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Depends on how old the child is - if they're a toddler, they shouldn't be left alone in the garden anyway (eating berries, for example) and if they're older, they should know to not fiddle with the pond (and I would have sent the children laying on the mesh home, as that is very wrong). If the latter, chicken wire would be sufficient - or put a pretty fence around it.

Strapped

ixwood wrote: »

Pond paranoia annoys me. As long as it's safe, why get rid of it?

Just put a grill over it, or fence it in.

Children dying annoys me.

spadoosh

you can get a grid that sits just below the waterline so you cant even see it. Its not a mesh/net but a very solid plastic grid. Safe enough for adults to stand on. Alternatively get your children these

lostinrates

This reminds me of overhearing an English couple with three children in Venice complaining and wondering how it was allowed for the canals not to be fenced off. They also told each other, seriously that it must be why there were no children around. (It was mid morning on a school day).

There is no doubt, if you don't want to supervise kids every minute draining or adequately fencing off/securing is the best solution, but it can be possible to coexist with water. OP, if I were you I'd fence it off inexpensively but securely ...sheep netting perhaps? and take the fence down when time is right for you. The walkable mesh underwater rather than above surface seems dodgy if you have a little kid or less mobile older child who trips and can't right themselves and you choose not to supervise/ worry a lot. Personally, I'd be of the leave the pond but never the kid alone variety.