Houses with pools, and rural living

[Valerie C]

Gee I wish I could find the link that somebody posted here months ago with the baby and the pool--anybody save it in their favorites???

[buck naked]

Hey Val - I still have it....



YouTube - drowning prevention strategy for infants and young children

[maestramommy]

I've seen this! Might impressive. I know someone who's gone through the course with her kids, and I saw her 17 month old's final session. Totally amazing. She lives with a pool and near a canal, so she felt she had to do it. We don't live near water, and our apt complex pool is too far for an accident. The course is also really expensive, and you have to keep up with the refresher courses or your kid will forget. So if we ended up buying a house with a pool maybe we'd do this, AND get the pool fenced.

[bryfry]

Originally Posted by maestramommy

DH refuses to let a pool be dealbreaker, .....

Me, too. So many of my house prospects have pools, but I can take 'em or leave 'em. Above ground would be prefered because it easier to take down rather than tear up concrete and fill with dirt. The kids really want a pool, but I don't want the cost and labor in the maintenance. So, if the right house comes along and it has a pool....so be it. I'll deal with it.

[NH2008]

Wow, as the mother of a child around the age of the kid in the video, that totally wigged me out! The American Academy of Pediatricians actually advises parents NOT to allow toddlers to take swim lessons as it can lead to a false sense of security, but I'd never heard of that method before. Interesting. I'd sure hate to ever put it to the test.

maestramommy, I don't know the answer to your question about filling in a pool only temporarily. But the question is at what point would you feel safe having a pool? You wouldn't have to worry about a teenager toddling in and drowning, but would you feel confident that they'd never have friends over late at night or when you were out of town, that they'd never drink, that they'd never try to dive and hit the bottom of the pool, etc?

I don't mean to harsh on pools - I love to swim and spent long hours at the pool and lake when I was a kid. But we do know a family whose young daughter drowned in their backyard. They had the fence and all the safety features, and both parents were home. They were all inside the house. It later turned out that some workmen who had done work on the house had left the gate and back door open, and she fell in. She was only out of sight for a few minutes, but she was brain dead by the time the ambulance got there. They are going to live with that loss for the rest of their lives. Knowing what I was like as a little kid and as a teenager, I personally would not feel comfortable having a pool.

Whatever you decide, I don't see why it would have to be a deal breaker. Given the state of the real estate market, couldn't you just tell the seller you'd be filling in the pool and deduct that fee from your offer price?