Safe hot tubbing with children

The grandchildren have been splashing around in the hot tub since they were little

We’ve had a hot tub in the yard of our summer cottage for three years now. We found a great spot for it between the sauna and the beach, offering a gorgeous view of the sea.
 
Our hot tub sees frequent use. Our grandchildren, aged 7, 10 and 13, have also been splashing around in the hot tub since the youngest was only 4 years old. The children enjoy the hot tub immensely, spending a lot of time in it and sometimes dipping into the sea for a swim. In fact, the kids enjoy the hot tub so much that sometimes it’s difficult to tear them away from it!
 
I think that the thing that the children like the most about the hot tub is that you can play around and dive in it. The hot tub isn’t actually that big, being one of those sit-down models that seats 6–8 adults, but it still seems to have plenty of room for the children to dive around in. Kids are capable of some amazing feats after all.

Safety is important

It’s very important to supervise the children when they’re using the hot tub. Especially so back when the youngest couldn’t yet swim. Back then there was always a parent or grandparent present to keep watch. Now that the children are older and can all swim, we don’t need to supervise them quite as strictly.
 
The wood-fired hot tub heater isn’t a problem as far as children are concerned. It’s located outside of the hot tub and insulated so well that there’s very little risk of getting burned.

For getting in and out of the hot tub, we use high-quality steps made by the hot tub manufacturer. Thanks to them, even the 4-year-old could easily get in and out of the hot tub without assistance back in the day.
 
Our grandchildren learned very quickly how to behave in and use the hot tub safely – they understood the rules in one go, or at least with very little repetition. Nowadays I think the main thing that we need to focus on when supervising the children’s hot tubbing is making sure that they eventually get out of it.

Summer greetings,
Antti Ahtiainen
Grandad

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