Protecting the fun out of childhood - Swimming Pools

When I was growing up in the early 80’s I could see 3 home swimming pools from my back yard–not a one of them were fenced.  Two of them I swam in regularly.  Now, in my development of approximately 200 houses I can count on one hand the number of swimming pools.   I blame fences for the decreasing number of pools to be found in the back yards of young families.  To be fair…there is a requirement in my development that all pools be “in ground,” which does make them too expensive for many families–but even in neighboring communities where above ground pools are not taboo, there is a scarcity of pools compared to my childhood memories. 

Why do I blame fences? Because even if they are installed by the homeowner, they are hardly an “easy” solution since they can be prohibitively expensive to a working class family—costing many times more than the pool itself.  Especially since many localities require fences for ANY pool, even a 12″ deep kiddie pool.  How exactly does anyone over about 18 months old drown in a 12″ pool?  I would think that even the smallest toddler is going to be able to stand up after falling into that amount of water.

The logic behind installing fences is Continue Reading…