Garden ponds and Children

[Cherry_blossom]

Hiya all,
I need some advice and a discussion about, garden ponds.

I would like a pond in my garden, not for fish but for frogs etc... a proper natural pond, Not a large one perhaps, 3ft x 4ft ish at most.
I know this is a fantastic addition to a organic food producing garden!

the problem is, I have a toddler...he is 2, and pretty smart! I hadn't thought it would be an issue, given that I would teach him all about the dangers and safety etc...

Now I have mentioned this pond idea to my parents, one of whom is a paramedic! and they are dead against it, in fact they are so against it, I have had a talking down by my father! They are just too dangerous.

Of course I wouldn't dream of putting my son in any danger, so my question is...

Is it too dangerous for me to have a pond in the garden? and if so what age should my son be, before I do decide to go ahead with putting one in?

Any advice, opinion either way would be so helpful...
Thanks in advance
Xe
xXx

[hamster]

My grandparents had a pond and they sometimes put a fence up round it when my cousins or I visited. Can't remember how old we were when they stopped, though. The only person who I can ever remember falling in was my granny!

[Martin]

I find this modern preoccupation with everything being seen as potentially dangerous for kids as deeply sad...............as is not teaching kids that some things ARE dangerous, and are to be avoided
Having spent many of my formative years on a nursery which would give the willies to any modern health and safety bod regarding adult safety, I fail to see the problem.....as long as potential dangers are accompanied by firm parenting - "you do NOT go into No4 greenhouse boiler shed because the firepit is flooded"......you knew full well that the wrath of God would descend if you did, so you avoided it!
Gets all misty at the though of visiting my friends next door, and watching the totally unenclosed driving bands whizzing round driving the feed milling machine..........
Great steaming vats of pigswill - open cesspits bubbling ominously...... wonderful playground!

[Annpan]

I am in the process of putting a pond in our garden (I also have a toddler, she is 20 months)

I am hiding the pond in a corner, behind a shrub and much overgrown stuff... then I am going to put a strong cage type stuff (3inch holes) lying over the top, and secured with stones and bricks and dirt around it.

My basic idea was to hide it so E wouldn't know it was there, secure the top so that if she jumped up and down on it she wouldn't fall in and to make it very ugly and uninteresting to a child, hopefully when she is old enough to poke frogs with sticks she will still not know it is there.


I might of course not succeed but I currently don't leave her in the garden alone and I can't see that changing any time soon anyways.

[Stonehead]

We have a pond here and had quite a large, deep one at our last house. We stretched a net over the deep one, but that was it apart from being outside when the boys were toddlers and outside. Now that they're bigger, we rely on them to a reasonable extent to look after each other.

[red]

my parents have an ornamental pond.. witha low wall - ideal for tripping over and going head first in!
when my son was born, they put a metal mesh - like weld mesh - in just under the surface. so it still looked nice.. frogs still came and went, lilies still flowered, but we knew that if he went in, he would only go in an inch deep.

[Clara]

Anyone who has read my previous posts will know that I´m not one to be neurotic about kids and percieved dangers, however...................

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you take some safety measures, like fencing it off or netting it over or having it within plain sight......one of my DDs friends is no longer with us because at 20 months old she followed her dog into a neighbour´s swimming pool that had just two feet of water in it. Too terribly tragic.

I have a spring which collects into trough about 2ftx2ftx2ft, I have now put a gate between the house and it, I know that it is still potentially accessible, but the combination of a physical barrier plus a discussion about water whenever we are near it I hope will prevent any problems.

[ina]

Not having children myself I can't speak from experience - but I would have the pond, make it secure (with one of the methods mentioned above), and teach the child about the dangers. Children can drown in a puddle, when it comes to that; you can't make all puddles secure, but you can do with a pond in your garden.

[Russian Doll]

i cant see a problem as long as you put some wire netting over it...our school pond has a cage over it and still has an influx of all sorts of wildlife etc and looks lovely in full bloom

[Cherry_blossom]

hiya all,

so many fantastic comments, a fair few differing opinions! Wow!
I am of the opinion that so long as it is "made safe" with good heavy wire flat over the top of it which is in turn well secured, and frequent discusions about water safety. It should be Fantastic!

But My Father has been over today and asked me as a Granddad, and as a paramedic to hold off for a couple of years until my son is school age...

I have not said yes or no to this, what I have decided is that I have so much more to do in the garden that I could do first, that I will do the pond last, and this might be in that couple of years!
_____________________

Incidentally My Parents Have 2 Ponds in their garden!

Take care
Xe
xXx

[red]

sounds like a good plan. and you know.. he is coming from the view point of wanting to protect his grandson, and thats great really.

[Cherry_blossom]

Oh totally, He is great really.

I totally understand, I just felt a little put out earlier I think, needed a few other opinions and a bit of a rant!


Xe
xXx

[MKG]

Don't normally post here but ...

Wire netting placed flat over a pond may save a child's life ... if you're lucky. A child, no matter how small, standing in the middle of such a construction, would place tremendous strain on the anchors of the netting and would probably slowly sink into the pond or even very suddenly be dropped into the pond. Having said that, a good solid fence is easy to put up and easy to make childproof.

And having done the potential danger side, a pond is brilliant for teaching kids about wildlife - they all love 'em. Clara has made, I think, the most important point - tell the child that water can be dangerous. Drum it in and then drum it in again. I appreciate your Dad's concerns, because they'd be mine - how could I tell that someone else has made the pond safe? But you can do it. Ask his advice on fences, ask him to build the fence - believe me, you'll get the world-record for safety fence if you do that.

It's your choice, and you have your Dad's very understandable worries to take into account. But I think I'd go ahead with the pond (you'll get frogs in four inches, by the way, and it takes a very unlucky accident for a child at or past toddling stage to drown in that), fence it off (see-through fencing so that it doesn't become a source of mystery and imagination to a child) with your Dad's help, and watch as frogs, newts, pond-skaters, water-boatmen, dragonflies and damselflies all fascinate the little one.

[Green Rosie]

I read somewhere once that most accidents involving children and water involve children who do not have a pond at home but are visiting somewhere that does and they have no idea of the dangers of water.

We had a pond from when the boys were born with a secure but quite low fence around it. Initially they could only go to the pond with us but as they got older they were allowed there on their own. And they were taught and learnt from a very early age of the dangers in the same way that pans of boiling water, busy roads, sockets and sharp knives etc are all dangerous.

The hours of fun they have both got from a pond has been a joy to watch so I say go for the pond now - put it somewhere visible, fence it and enjoy the wildlife and the fun/education your lad will get from it.

[mrsflibble]

we had a pond when I was a child, I don't remember falling in it but I do remember that when he was 3 my brother fell in it (I had lived all my life with the pond; he hadn't). it wasn't deep but he just sat there and shouted "wet!" until someone came and fished him out.