Please if all possible like my blog post before title "Why Do Kids Have To Be So Mean?" Education is the key factor in life. Doesn't have to happen in a classroom. Because everyday life is education. Educate your children even if they don't have Autism about autism. Educate yourself about Autism. Because before really getting into doing research about Autism and all the signs of being the Autistic Spectrum. It wasn't until last year that my fiancé and I put two and two together and realized that some of the things that Brayden was doing during the summer last year was a sign of Autism. Chidlren with Autism (ASD) are extremely drawn to water. That explained a lot even though we drilled in to our children's head about our pool in the back yard when swimming Brayden was very drawn to it. Drawn to going under water or floating for a few minutes with his face in the water. Accidental Drowning is the leading cause of death in children on the Autistic Spectrum all the way up to the age of 14.
If you are like us and have more than one child, but between the two only one of them are Autistic. You can't punish the whole family by not putting up the pool in fear of a child drowning. I mean even children without Autism can drown. That's why any child that isn't a grown adult should NEVER be left unattended in a pool. Even a kiddie pool, because it only takes a little bit of water to drown.
As following below will be a few types on owning and having a pool up during summer if you are family that has an Autistic child in the home. This could be useful tips for anyone, new to autism parents, new parents in general, and even foster/adoptive parents who may have never fostered or adopted a child who was on the autistic spectrum.
- Children with Autism aren't stupid. They are quite smart, they are also human and understand. PREACH it in their heads the SAFETY of the pool.
- If need be THREATEN them. For Example: I threatened my kids last year if they were caught anywhere near the pool without an adult supervision I would take them outside with me to watch me put a knife in the side of the pool multiple times.
- Explain to them every night before bed (this comes in handy when you have older children but not old enough to go swimming alone) more safety and the rules. For Example: Our Rules are as follows, If you get up before mommy does (because I am stay at home mom and here more with them) and then you ask, "What do you do?" My kids will answer wake mommy up. Even though neither one of them rarely do because they either jump in bed with me to watch TV or go into the living room with everything still locked up such as all the doors and watch Netflix. Disclaimer: I very rarely sleep in when my kids are even home during the summer because I set my alarm to try and be up before they are or shortly after.
- Another question we go over is, Is anyone outside or even allowed to open the front door if mommy and in rare cases daddy is still in bed? (Again it very rarely happens) The kids will follow with No we are not allowed to open the front door or even go outside and if we do we are in trouble. Mommy will put a knife in the pool.
These things may get tiring to do and don't get me wrong at least the first month I go after these kids about the rules and safety of pools just like I do with gun safety. That's another blog in itself coming up maybe in a few days. But once our pool is up and a month has went by they get into the routine of telling you the rules of the pool before bed. They are human and need reminding no matter how simple it may be to you!
Before going I would like to leave you with a few safety tips.
- You want the pool accessible in case you are sitting outside the pool like I do most the time because our pool last year was a big pool but wasn't round enough. But you want it accessible in case something happens to a child and you don't have time to fly up the deck stairs. You can just jump over.
- Deck: we are in the process of getting our new pool and new deck up as we speak but this deck we will have it locked to where no one can get into it unless it's unlocked.
- Rules for kids in our pool: We don't mind the neighbor kids swimming, it gives our kids someone to swim with during the summer. However, we make rules and they apply for anyone that steps foot in our pool.
- Rules we have made: ABSOLUTELY NO FIGHTING, First offense your in time out, since I am a giver of second chances, you have one more chance and if caught fighting in the pool you are out for the day. No "Pretend" drowning yourself or someone else. For Example: some of our boys that swam last year would always push someone's head under water. Finally after a week of not swimming while everyone else got to we gave him a chance and he quite doing it thereafter.
Remember when it comes to the safety of your children in a container filled with water. Rules must be consistent.
Thank you again for taking pool safety seriously for any child.
Always remember that an autistic child is extremely drawn to it.
I hope everyone has a wonderful day today!
Catch You All Later,
Diedra
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