Safety Rules for Boating with Kids

Boating provides children with memories that will last a lifetime. Some of my best childhood memories are of sailing of fishing with family as a boy. A simple mishap, though, can render these lifelong boating memories into fears. It's important to teach your children the ins and outs of life aboard your boat from the beginning. Doing so will help to ensure that you are raising the next generation of enthusiastic boaters.

In all things, safety should be a parent or guardian's number one priority, and boating is no exception. Make sure that all children on board your vessel are wearing life jackets that are of the appropriate size for the child. A poorly-sized life jacket does little good when it's needed, and can actually entangle a child in the water. If you don't have any child or toddler-sized life jackets on board, go and pick one up before you cast off. Life jackets should fit snugly without binding, and when fastened, should be impossible to lift above the ears of the wearer. While laws in most states require all children to wear life jackets, it's your job to ensure that the life jackets are fitted and fastened appropriately the whole time you are on the water. Complaints that life jackets are uncomfortable should fall on deaf ears in this day and age - the giant orange puffy life preservers of our childhood are things of the past, and today's life jackets are flexible, fitted, and streamlined for all-day wear. The most committed and safety-conscious among us big-people will set a good example by purchasing and wearing a comfortable life vest ourselves.