Tessa Rhodes

I help children overcome their fear of water with a dose of compassion and a whole lot of patience.

  • HOME
  • ABOUT ME
  • THE BUSINESS SIDE
    • Online Professional Development Classes: Empower Your Team
    • Small Business Ideas for Teachers – Start A Private Swim School
    • Best Class Management Software 2024
    • How Many Followers for Amazon Influencer Program: Essential Key Points
  • COURSES
    • Free Course: How to Prepare Your Baby for Swim Lessons 0 to 8 Months
    • Online Swim Academy
  • FREE RESOURCES
  • MY BLOG
    • How to Start a Swim School
      • Small Business Ideas for Teachers – How To Start A Private Swim School Business Without Any Experience
    • Overcome fear of water
      • Fear of Water? Help Your Child Learn to put Their Face in the Water
      • Toys for Swimming Lessons: The Benefits
      • Games to Motivate Your Child to put Their Face in the Water
      • Help Your Child Learn How to Front Float
      • Help Your Child Learn How to Back Float
      • Having Fun Learning Various Rolls, Floats and More
      • How to Give up the Nose Clip, Goggles and Ear Protection
      • Teach Your Child to Propel through the Water
      • Breath Control: How to Blow Bubbles for Beginner Swimmers
      • Help Your Child Overcome Their Fear of Deep Water
      • Functional Needs Swimming: Tips for Safe & Enjoyable Learning
    • Swim Product Recommendations
      • Period Swimwear: Revolutionizing the Way We Swim on Our Cycle
      • Best Swim Caps for Keeping Hair Dry: Top Picks for 2024
      • Best Swimming Goggles with Nose Cover: Top Picks for You
      • Best Swim Goggles for Women: Top Picks for Comfort & Clarity
      • Best Swimming Goggles for Glasses: Top Options for 2024
      • Best Swim Goggles for Men: Top Picks and Ultimate Guide 2024
      • Best Swim Goggles for Beginners: Top Picks and Guide 2023
      • Best Swim Goggles 2023: Top Picks & Expert Guide
      • 4 Must-Haves for Your Vacation Getaway
      • Best Swim Fins for Kids
      • Finis Floating Island: Not Just for Kicking Practice
      • Finis Tempo Trainer: Not Just for Competitive Swimmers
      • Swim Mirror: Best Teaching Tool for Swimmers of All Levels
      • Treasure Chest: Proven to Motivate Even the Most Fearful Young Swimmers
    • Water Safety Topics
      • Your Family’s Guide to Swimming Pool Safety: Top Resources and Tips
      • Teach Your Child to Respect the Water
      • Water Safety Quiz
      • Do Swim Diapers Hold Urine?
      • International Water Safety Day May 15
      • Do Life Jackets Prevent Drowning?
      • Don’t Become a Drowning Statistic – Fence It In! Part 2
      • Don’t Become a Drowning Statistic – Fence It In!
      • How Do You Prevent Drowning?
      • What Is the Least Amount of Water It Takes to Drown?
      • How Do You Know If Someone Is Drowning?
      • What Does It Mean to Be Water Safe?
      • There Ought to Be a Law
      • When Will My Child Ever Learn?
      • What Are the Statistics of Drowning?
      • Where Drowning Takes Place Changes with Age
      • Having a Pool Party? Consider Hiring a Lifeguard
      • Don’t Take Offense but You Need a Fence
      • Are Water Wings Safe?
      • Are You Comfortable around Water?
      • Any Source of Water Is a Potential Drowning Hazard
      • How Common Is Drowning?
      • My Story
    • Water Safety Newsletter
      • What Kind of Learner Is My Child Quiz
      • How to Prepare Your Baby for Swimming Lessons Part 3
      • How to Prepare Your Baby for Swimming Lessons Part 2
      • How to Prepare Your Baby for Swimming Lessons
      • How I Stopped Swimmer’s Ear Infections Once and for All
      • Tips and Tricks to Motivate the Scared Child to Float
      • How to Teach Assisted Floating
      • Respect for Deep Water
      • What Is Breath Control in Swimming?
      • Got a Child Afraid of Water on the Face? Watch This Video
      • Shallow Water Blackout: What Every Parent Should Know
      • Self-Rescue Challenge: 3-Year-Old Pulls It off Without a Hitch
      • Drowning: The Silent Killer
      • Thailand Cave Rescue Mission + How to Teach Nose Bubbles to a Young Child
      • Dry Drowning: Real or Fake?
      • Self-Rescue Swim: Amazing 2-Year-Old Crushes Self-Rescue Challenge
      • International Water Safety Day 2018
      • This Is How to Get Your Child to Put Their Face in the Water
      • 2 Clever Ways to Get a Swim Cap on a Child in Under 2 Seconds
      • Water Safety Tips for Adults: A Drowning and near Drowning Within 30 Minutes
      • Self-Rescue Challenge: 3-Year-Old Survives Test
      • Swimming Pool Safety Act for California: Updated Jan 1, 2018
      • Pool Gate Left Open: The Unspeakable Happened
      • Pet Doors: Are Any of Them Childproof?
      • Do You Have a Fearless Child?
      • All about Swim Diapers, in the News and Water Safety Tips
    • Frequently Asked Questions
      • How Long Does It Take to Learn to Swim: Understand The Timeline
      • Can Babies Swim Naturally?
      • How Do I Know If My Child Is Dry Drowning?
      • What Is the Best Age to Start Swimming Lessons?
      • How Do I Make My Child More Comfortable in Water?
      • Does Your Baby Suddenly Have a Fear of Water?
      • How I Stopped Swimmer’s Ear Infections Once and for All
  • SWIM SHOP
  • CONTACT

Don’t Take Offense but You Need a Fence

December 6, 2016 by Tessa Rhodes 6 Comments

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now it’s time to get ready for the next major holiday whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah or Kwanzaa either way; it’s a hectic time of year. Pool fence.

In addition to the major holidays, we also celebrate my husband’s and my son’s birthdays. My son just turned 18!! He’s officially an adult. Where did the time go?

Spend as much quality time with your children as you can, because before you know it, they’re planning for college.

And especially keep them safe around water, so that they can be around to prepare for college.

climb-resistant mesh pool fence

Did you know that drowning can happen silently in less than five minutes and under the supervision of both parents? pool fence

I have had discussions with many parents in the past who don’t want to install a pool fence because it’s not aesthetically pleasing.

The same parents say that they’re very diligent and would never take their eyes off of their children when in on or around water.

We probably all think that we can be 100% attentive at all times and never take our eyes off of our children, but we all get distracted.

Just the other day, during a parent and child swimming lesson with three adults and two children standing in a circle in the pool, facing each other, one of the Dad’s dropped something right when his daughter slid off the floating mat expecting to be picked up by her Dad immediately following.

He was looking down and was unaware that his child was floating vertically before him, and her whole head was submerged.

It took me a couple of seconds to realize that her Dad didn’t see her there. As soon as I noticed, I launched forward and scooped her up.

She can hold her breath for a few seconds, so she was completely unscathed by the event.

water safety newsletter

Even while she was just silently floating there as calm as can be,

she looked completely relaxed and confident that her Dad was going to lift her out of the water.

As previously mentioned; drowning is silent which makes it much harder to notice.

It’s not like the movies, where the victim is screaming, and arms are flailing.

All the more reason to take the necessary precautions to prevent drowning and install that pool fence.

So what if the fence isn’t beautiful. Make your child a priority.

Install a climb-resistant mesh pool fence and make sure it’s at least four feet high with a self-closing, self-latching gate and with pool alarms.

If you have any thoughts on the subject or experiences that you would like to share, I would love to hear from you.

Love the water,
Tessa

P.S. Get the FREE water safety app to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water. It includes kid-friendly videos and quizzes. Search the iTunes app store for Swim by American Red Cross or click here. For Google Play you can use the same search parameters or click here. It provides the latest in water safety guidance to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water.

P.P.S. To start your child on the path to becoming water safe, click here.

water safety newsletter

Filed Under: Water Safety Topics

Comments

  1. Rosa says

    December 12, 2018 at 1:11 am

    Such a helpful guide ! It’s really important to have all necessary pool safety equipment to protect kids drawing in the pool. Thanks for sharing nice blog. It’s really helpful to choose best pool fences for pool safety.

    Reply
  2. Tessa Rhodes says

    December 13, 2018 at 9:12 am

    Thank you. I’m glad you found it helpful.

    Reply
  3. Faylinn Byrne says

    August 20, 2019 at 10:28 am

    I completely agree with how you talked about that you should put your children as a priority and install a fence around the pool to keep them safe. In my case, I don’t have children yet but I do have bunnies and a dog that loves the water but does not know how to swim. He already has scared me multiple times by almost drowning when I leave him to play outside, so I think it is time that I find a contractor and they install a fence around the pool so I can keep my best friend safe at all times.

    Reply
    • Tessa Rhodes says

      August 20, 2019 at 12:48 pm

      I’m glad you raised the point about pets. It’s important to keep our adorable furry friends safe too.

      Reply
  4. frameless shower glass nz says

    May 25, 2020 at 11:28 am

    It is a wonderful article stating the building a handmade hideway: railings + shutters, which can be the best option as per your need. I like how you have researched and presented these exact points so clearly. I have seen similar information at one place, you can also see on Grandglass.co.nz.

    Reply
    • Tessa Rhodes says

      May 26, 2020 at 8:11 am

      Thanks for your comment. I checked out your website. Your frameless pool fence is beautiful, and more importantly, climb resistant.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

what kind of learner is my child quiz

ABOUT ME

Hi, I'm Tessa Rhodes, and I help children of all ages to develop a love of the water. I teach to respect it, not fear it. After more than fifteen years of coaching children, loads of research, and trial and error, I developed a series of techniques and exercises to help children of all ages overcome their fear of water and become confident swimmers.

View My Blog Posts

Recent Posts

  • How Many Followers for Amazon Influencer Program: Essential Key Points
  • Functional Needs Swimming: Tips for Safe & Enjoyable Learning
  • Online Professional Development Classes: Empower Your Team
  • Period Swimwear: Revolutionizing the Way We Swim on Our Cycle
  • Best Swim Caps for Keeping Hair Dry: Top Picks for 2024
  • How Long Does It Take to Learn to Swim: Understand The Timeline
  • Best Class Management Software 2024
  • Best Swimming Goggles with Nose Cover: Top Picks for You
  • Best Swim Goggles for Kids: Top Picks for Safety & Comfort

Copyright © 2025 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in