Why You Should Never Buy a Blue Swimsuit for Your Child
When you buy a swimsuit for your child, don’t buy him blue. The reason is simple: the color makes them difficult, even impossible, to see underwater.
According to the CDC, drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death in children ages 1 to 4, and about 400 children drown in swimming pools or spas every year in the US. And while swimming safety is about much more than the color of your bathing suit, why tempt fate?
The light distortion caused by pool sunlight can be more dramatic than you think. Check out this video where Nikki Scarnati, a chest swimming instructor , demonstrates this with her child. As Scarnati notes, her video was filmed in the calm water of the pool. Add to that a group of other kids splashing around and a few waves and you can see how quickly a kid can disappear underwater, even in bright sunlight.
A horrific example of blindness by the pool
If you want some gruesome real-life example of how hard it can be to spot a baby in a swimming pool, consider the 2002 case of Paolo Alexander Ayala . A 7-year-old boy has reportedly gone missing after attending a pool party in Los Angeles’ wealthy Holmby Hills neighborhood.
The police conducted an extensive manhunt, and two days later Ayala’s body was discovered: he had been at the bottom of the pool in the backyard all this time. The water was clear and tested by dozens of people, including trained police officers and LAPD detectives, but no one saw the boy’s body. He was wearing white and blue swimming trunks.
So what color swimsuit to choose for a child?
As for what suit color you should choose, the rule of thumb is simple: make it bright. Lifehacker has covered swimwear colors and safety before , pointing to research done by water safety company ALIVE Solutions. They tested a dozen suit colors for visibility in both the lake and the pool, and determined that the most visible colors were neon yellow, neon green, and bright orange. Neon pink is a good choice for a light-colored pool, but not for a lake.
Another thing to think about: contrasting colors. Chunky neon green swim trunks with a bright orange swim top may not be the trendiest color combination, but it’s a safer choice than a suit that matches the color of the pool bottom.
Suit color is no substitute for safety on the water
Wearing a brightly colored bathing suit is great, but if you want your child to be safer in the water , always keep an eye on them, use life jackets as needed, and for God’s sake, teach them how to swim . Babies can learn to roll onto their back if they fall into the water, and children as young as one year old can benefit from swimming lessons. There is no excuse not to do it.
Taking children near any kind of water, even a paddling pool or fountain, comes with some risk, so read the basic water safety rules. Don’t let them swim in unfamiliar or even remotely dangerous areas and keep a close eye on them even if there are lifeguards and other adults nearby.