Water Safety Tips with KidsCanSwim Canada

Drowning can happen very quickly. Families and caregivers play a vital role in teaching kids to learn to swim and behave safely in and around water. Joining us on the blog today is locally-owned swim school, KidsCanSwim Canada.

Located in Ottawa’s West End, KidsCanSwim boutique facility specializes in small class sizes and science-based learning. Their personalized approach, sparkling clean pools, and commitment to delivering an exceptional experience to you and your child makes for an enjoyable swimming lesson for all. AND you don’t have to worry about cold water! Their pool is a constant 32°C warm, with UV-filtered water and sparkling clean change rooms.

We asked the team at KidsCanSwim to share with us some important tips that everyone should be familiar with when it comes to water safety:

Never swim alone

Consider bringing a buddy or two with you while you swim. If someone gets in trouble the other can call for help! Never grab on to your buddy to save them, use a rescue aid such as a lifejacket or a noodle to reach for them from a safe stable distance.

Always wear a lifejacket or PFD

This applies to more than just boating! Any sort of activity where there is a risk of falling in the water either from a great height or a great speed is a major risk for even the best of swimmers. Did you know there is a difference between lifejackets and PFD’s? A lifejacket is an emergency device designed to keep its occupants head upright and provide buoyancy while a PFD (Personal Floatation Device) is simply designed for buoyancy. When choosing your lifejacket or PFD consider a bright colour so you can stand out in a body of water.

Take swimming lessons

While this might be obvious, swimming lessons are a very powerful defence against accidental drownings. Consider a program such as KidsCanSwim that will focus on fast progression of swimmer’s swimming abilities and water safety elements.

Take a lifesaving course

If you are passionate about water and want to learn lifesaving skills that can be applied in everyday life consider registering for a bronze medallion or bronze cross course. These courses are specifically designed to equip candidates with skills to perform various rescues in a variety of different scenarios. First aid courses are also an option, they are short and provide a wide variety of tools for anyone!

Watch your kids while swimming

The majority of accidental drownings happen when kids are swimming unsupervised and an accidental drowning can happen in as little as 30 seconds or roughly 2 Instagram stories. Always watch your kids when they are swimming,  even when there are lifeguards around. Lifeguards are there to respond in emergency situations – you are always responsible for your child’s safety in and around water.

To keep your kids safe around the water visit KidsCanSwim’s website and register for one of their private or semi-private classes, which have recently re-opened with safety measures in place to keep families safe.  Find out more by visiting them online at https://www.kidscanswimcanada.ca, and follow them on Facebook and Instagram!

Disclosure: This is a paid, sponsored blog post with KidsCanSwim.

Pedalling away

I first heard about Pedalheads last year and thought it sounded like a great idea for parents (like me) who are a bit nervous about taking the training wheels off. After hearing more great reviews from friends, I signed the kid up for a week of half days. She was very excited to get out on her bike with the other kids. 

When I dropped her off, with training wheels, on her first day I was immediately impressed with the two instructors. They were greeted her and made her feel welcome, as well as explaining a few things to me. 

When I picked her up that first day she told me that on the second day she was going to take her training wheels off. 

We knew that her bike was a bit small for her, and I sought advice from the instructors on whether she needed a new one and what size it would be. They were very helpful and we dropped her off on Tuesday with a bigger bike, no training wheels, ready to go. And go she did. 

With their encouragement she was able to ride by herself by the end of the second day, and then she spent the next three days working on stopping and starting. 

They also spend time playing games and learning about road safety. One day they built a bike rack and another day they built a bike wash, which they then got to ride through. There was much giggling. 

Before the end of the first week I had already signed her up for a second and soon she'll be road ready. 

I really can't express how impressed I am with the way the camp is run. My husband and I watched from a parking spot one day before and saw how excited the instructors get for every success a child has. They seemed almost as thrilled and my daughter was and there were many high fives thrown. 

We were at the Kanata camp, but there are camps across Ottawa and some still have space for this summer! 

Bill 10 (formerly known as Bill C143) and Why it Matters To You

By Salina Sunderland Your first question is probably “What is Bill 10?” perhaps followed by “Ugh…politics…not interested!” But before you skip by this post in favour of something more exciting and glamorous, let me fill you in on why you should be very concerned with this bill as a parent of young children.

Bill 10, the Childcare Modernization Act, is a bill that has been introduced by the Minister of Education, Liz Sandals, in the name of making your child’s daycare safer and better whether you have your child in a daycare centre, in an agency affiliated home daycare, or a private home daycare. Here are some highlights as pertain to private home daycare (there are changes for daycare centres and agency home daycares as well that I won’t go into here):

1) Currently, a private home daycare provider may have 5 daycare children at any one time in addition to her own children of any ages. Bill 10 would force the provider to count her own children under the age of 6 in her total of 5 kids, even though her children are most likely in school full-time at the age of 4. 2) Currently there are no age ratio restrictions for private caregivers and it is left to a daycare providers own discretion as to which ages to accept into her/his daycare depending on the caregivers own abilities, strengths, and programming. Bill 10 would make it so that private home daycares would be allowed no more than 2 kids under the age of 2.

Now, you might be saying “This is great! My kids will be safer!” However, considering that 80% of children in Ontario are cared for in unlicensed home daycares, this bill has the potential to severely disrupt childcare availability and rates. As a private home daycare provider, I receive many enquiries for care every month. 99% of those enquiries are for babies around the 12 month mark when their moms or dads return to work. Considering children now start school full-time at 3.5-4 years of age, we are left with children aged 1-3 to care for. Many of us actually prefer having a group of little ones close in age as they grow and learn together and it is much easier to cater to their needs when they are all in a similar stage.

If this bill is put into law, many home daycare providers will be forced to close as they will not be able to survive on the 2-3 kids they will be allowed to care (having to count their own children as well as find kids to fit the ratios). Those that stay in business will almost certainly raise their rates significantly, especially for the under 2 spaces. All of this adds up to less spaces available and higher costs for parents.

Now, if all of this was really in the cause of keeping children safer, I would say “It’s worth it! Let’s all suck it up and do this for the kids!” However, the problem is that the daycares that are currently running illegally (with too many kids) are not following the current laws; they are not going to suddenly decide to follow the new law. These are the daycares in which children are in danger and this law will do nothing to stop them. If the Ministry of Education would do their job and follow up on complaints, inspect daycares with complaints against them, and shut down the unsafe ones, we would all be better off.

Bill 10 is now in second reading in the Ontario Legislature. Once it passes through second reading it will go to Committee, where we hope that some amendments will be made. After it is discussed in Committee, it will be passed into law. The Liberal party has said that they would like to have it passed before Christmas.

You can find out more at this Facebook Page: Ontario Families and Home Childcare Providers Against Bill 143 Or: Coalition of Independent Childcare Providers of Ontario

If you are concerned, please write to Education Minister Liz Sandals (lsandals.mpp@liberal.ola.org) as well as your local MPs (follow this link to find them.) Act now before it’s too late; let the government know how this bill will affect you!

Visiting a Fire Station

One of the highlights for our girls this summer was visiting a fire station.  We visited Ottawa Fire Station 23 (Carling & Kirkwood) because my husband knows the Platoon Chief. But you can visit any station in the city and they will give you a tour as part of Ottawa's Fire Safety Program.  If you are interested in going for a tour call the fire education department of the city to set up a time (click here to find a fire station near you.

Our tour started in the Platoon Office where the staffing of all 29 fire stations is controlled. Next we were led through the station to the garage to meet our guide (a nice rookie who was great with kids) to see the fire trucks.  Station 23 has two main pumper trucks and one ladder truck.  Our guide explained how trucks are dispatched when a call come in and that some stations don't have enough staff to operate all the equipment at any particular time.

The girls got to sit in the truck and see and touch the equipment that firefighters use when they are fighting a fire.  The parents also got to pick up and carry bags of equipment to feel how heavy they are.  The firefighters need to carry these bags of equipment up countless flights of stairs.

The kids were a little nervous about all of the big equipment so our very nice rookie took us to the kitchen to see where they prepared and ate all their meals.  Firefighters are on duty for 24 hour shifts (yes, they sleep and eat at the station) and they have to be ready to go to a call anytime.  This is why you often see firetrucks at the grocery store.  One time they got a call when they were grocery shopping and had a full cart of groceries!

Station 23 is one of the older stations in Ottawa and even has a fire pole.  Newer stations are only one floor and no longer have fire poles.

The end of the tour led us back to the garage where the girls got a chance to help wash the fire truck.  They were happily scrubbing away when a call came in over the speakers.  We moved to the back of the garage and got to see all the fire fighters get suited up, get into the trucks and drive out onto Carling Ave with sirens blaring.

 

Workshop Safety for Kids

Who says little ones can't help out in the shop? My husband is a woodworking hobbyist. Our house is scattered with his various projects, all beautifully made and handcrafted. This means that he spends a lot of time down in his shop - a place you would normally want to ban kiddos for fear of someone stepping on a nail or smacking their head against a sharp corner.

But our little 4 year-old loves spending time with Daddy in his shop, and he's found ways to get her involved, safely. If any of his saws are on, she wears ear protectors and goggles. He's also taught her how to safely wield a hammer, and she's practiced nailing into wood. Mainly, she likes wheeling around the shop on an old tricycle :)

Do you involve your children in "grown-up" hobbies?