9 Swimming Pool Rules to Have More Fun This Swim Season

A family poses for a photo while in the swimming pool

You can create a fun, safe swimming pool experience for your friends and family if you set and follow smart swimming pool rules every time the pool is in use. Pool safety rules are designed to help prevent accidents and injuries, but too often, they can be restrictive. From mischievous kids to stubborn adults, some people just can’t stand feeling limited, and then they act out. Around the swimming pool, this can lead to bad decisions that can put their lives and the lives of those around them in danger. Let’s take a look at some sensible rules that offer the space needed for even the most hard-headed swimmers to get with the program.

Don’t Play with Pool Safety

Thousands of lives are lost to accidental drowning injuries annually, and tens of thousands seek treatment at doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, and urgent care clinics to treat pool-related injuries. Safety has to be the top priority in and around the swimming pool. By building the freedom to have some fun into your swimming pool rules, you aren’t only increasing compliance at the moment, you’re setting a foundation to build a safety-first mindset for the future.

Fun Safety Rules for All Swimmers

This list isn’t the be-all, end-all of pool safety rules. We’ve talked before about setting safety expectations–safe swimming pools are kind of our thing–but rather, this list is to give you some ideas for how to structure the rules in a fun-friendly manner that gets swimmers excited to follow them.

Keep a Designated Water Watcher so Others Can Participate

Supervision is mandatory anytime children, pets, or at-risk individuals are in the pool area, but that doesn’t have to feel like there’s a prison warden around. Designate a responsible adult as a water watcher, freeing up other adults to enjoy their pool time. The water watcher maintains a safe swimming pool by keeping an eye on the pool, and looking for signs of distress from swimmers. Periodically change up who the responsible water watcher is so that everyone has an opportunity to get in on the action. 

Encourage Activities that Scale to Skill Levels

5 kids in a swimming pool jumping up to toss a beach ball

Inclusivity is key. Make sure there is a mix of activities that let weaker swimmers or waders have fun with the group and some challenging fun for stronger swimmers as well. This helps keep everyone in the pool area involved while reducing the risk that someone will push their skill level further than safety allows, putting themselves in danger. Check out some of our previous blogs on fun pool games for some great ideas for all ages and levels of swimming proficiency.

Keep the Area Clear

This means ensuring towels end up on tables or chairs and not in the walkway, toys don’t get left out to overcrowd the water, and safety equipment is in its dedicated and well-marked locations. Keeping the area clear makes more space for poolgoers to have fun. This process can be more fun by adopting simple changes to your swimming pool rules like “One out, one in” for toys, ensuring the excitement of the next activity offers motivation to finish out the current one by properly putting the equipment away.

Take Pool-Wide Breaks

This pool safety rule gives swimmers a chance to use the restroom, relax, or reapply sunscreen. No one likes to be out of the pool alone where they’re missing out on the fun, so pool-wide breaks ensure the fun just moves outside the pool for a few minutes. It also gives the water watcher a break or offers the perfect time to change roles.

Timeout for TikToks

The popular social media platform gives users the chance to share short videos with the world, but it’s become controversial due to safety concerns over the content and the seemingly never-ending stream of challenges that can be uncomfortable or dangerous. Break time is the perfect time to accommodate the safe use of this or any similar social media platform into your swimming pool rules. You can ensure they’re posting safe content while on dry land where their viral dance moves are less likely to end in injury.

Food and Drink is more Enjoyable Outside the Pool

a buffet of burgers, hot dogs, and other pool party snacks on an outdoor patio

To encourage swimmers to make the most of the poolside breaks, have snacks and drinks available that get them up and away from the pool. This keeps food and drink out of your water and helps them moderate their pool usage. This swimming pool safety rule is as much about preventing water contaminants as it is about not allowing choking hazards. Keep the fare light and drinks hydrating so they can keep their swimming fun going for hours.

Set Up a Charging Station Away From the Pool

Water and electricity don’t mix, but more and more people are glued to their phones and tablets. Placing a charging station near the pool but away from the water avoids electrical risks by keeping your immediate pool area cord-free. Consider also keeping a bag of dry rice on hand both as a cautionary tale about taking your phone in the water and as an emergency measure when someone doesn’t listen and their phone goes for a swim without them.

Find Outlets for Exuberance

Keeping play within safe physical limits can be difficult, especially in larger groups of children. Finding energy-burning outlets for enthusiastic players early helps them burn off the initial excitement so they can keep play under control and within reasonable limits. Horseplay will happen, but you want to find ways to keep it safe and allow it in moderation to ensure everyone has fun and follows the swimming pool rules. Throughout the day, coming back from a pool-wide break with a high-intensity activity to start with before everyone reenters the pool can help keep impulsive behavior in check.

Close it Down

A secure swimming pool is a safe swimming pool. When the pool’s open, it’s open, but when it’s time to call it a day, get your pool secured efficiently while everyone is drying off, changing, or gathering inside the house for the evening. This helps prevent unsupervised access by someone who isn’t ready to be done swimming yet but shouldn’t be left alone in the water. Removable mesh pool fence installation can be begun as activities are winding down, making securing the perimeter a simple act of closing the self-latching gate. Swimming pool safety nets and pool safety covers can be installed in minutes once the pool is clear, letting you get back to your guests with the peace of mind your pool is protected.

Get Your Swimming Pool Ready for Safer Fun

Your local independent All-Safe Pool professional is dedicated to helping the members of your community reduce the risks associated with pool ownership. Request a free quote, and they’ll schedule a time to take measurements, talk to you about your swimming pool needs, and tailor a quote that shows just how cost-effective protection can be. Get your estimate from All-Safe Pool today.

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