How old should children be before we have a garden pond?

liney

http://www.rospa.com/waterandleisuresafety/factsheets/pondsafety.htm

Some good information here about covering and pond safety.

I am sorry to hear that Claudie.

quietheart

I had another look at that ROSPA site, it's interesting to see on current statistics more people drown in swimming pools than in garden ponds. Pretty surprising stuff:
Rivers, Streams etc. 167 (39%)
Coastal 87 (20%)
Lakes and Reservoirs 50 (12%)
Home Baths 42 (9.8%)
Canals 34 (8%)
Docks and Harbours 18 (4% )
Swimming Pools 15 (4%)
Garden Ponds 13 (3%)
Other 1 (0.2%)

hayleyc_2

rovers wrote: »

I had another look at that ROSPA site, it's interesting to see on current statistics more people drown in swimming pools than in garden ponds. Pretty surprising stuff:
Rivers, Streams etc. 167 (39%)
Coastal 87 (20%)
Lakes and Reservoirs 50 (12%)
Home Baths 42 (9.8%)
Canals 34 (8%)
Docks and Harbours 18 (4% )
Swimming Pools 15 (4%)
Garden Ponds 13 (3%)
Other 1 (0.2%)

It's interesting to see how many more people drown in the bath than in a garden pond, yet no-one suggests people fill in their baths with sand!

I think you have to be careful with little ones and ponds, but the benefits of being closer to nature outweigh the risk; as long as you are prepared to supervise your children and teach them their boundaries.

Also, the environmental benefits of ponds are extremely important. As gardens are getting smaller and more green spaces are being built on it's even more important that gardens can support a wide range of wildlife. The best way to do this is to have a pond. Even a small pond can support a healthy population of frogs and toads and provides a valuable water source for birds and other animals.

In the original poster's situation, I would put a small fence around the pond and possibly a cover but would definitely not fill it in. I think the more we cut children off from nature the less likely they are to want to protect it. As others have said, children need to experience risk in order to learn what real dangers are and how to cope with them.

Hayley

quietheart

hayleyc wrote: »

I think the more we cut children off from nature the less likely they are to want to protect it.

good point, I think you're right there.

Spendless

hayleyc wrote: »

It's interesting to see how many more people drown in the bath than in a garden pond, yet no-one suggests people fill in their baths with sand!



Hayley

The difference being that baths do not sit fill of water all the time and when a bath is full of water young children should not be left unattended.

kr15snw

I think from reading these posts it depends on the pond, in the end. Some people have said that they have / family have ponids where older family members have fallen into them. Well if an adult who is not messing around can easily fall in then I dont think this pond would be classified as 'safe'. But there are some ponds that are child friendly.

We had a raised pond which I would not have been able to climb onto the edge until I was 3, by then I started to understand about it and knew not to go near it. By the time I was old enough to be left alone in the garden I knew not to climb onto the wall. And it was impossible to accidently fall in, unless I was on the wall.

Also if the pond is out of the way then children dont need to be near it at any time (if that makes sense).

I think its hard to give advice on this situation unless you know what type of pond it is or where it is located in the pond.