Life Jackets: How to Keep Your Children in Them

Boating is an activity that can be enjoyed by the entire family. It is fun and exciting and generally quite entertaining. I have four small boys that love to spend their weekends on the boat. Boating with children poses a few extra challenges though that you don’t have with adult type passengers.

One of the greatest trials we’ve had with our boys is the life jackets or life vests. According to our FWC invessels under 26 feet in length, all children under the age of six must wear an approved and appropriately sized life jacket at all times. The only exceptions are when the boat is anchored, docked, moored or grounded. It can be a challenge to keep young children in compliance.

Here are some tips to keep your smaller boaters safe and within regulation regarding lifejackets:

• Be consistent from the beginning. No life jacket = no boat ride. This rule must be firmly implemented from the beginning. Negotiating will open up the floor for endless whining and begging (I am very experienced in the “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile” theory). Children must not consider the life jacket an option. It is a requirement the same way you must wear a seatbelt when you drive. It is safe, it’s the law and it’s not an option. Period.

• Invest in comfortable life jackets. If you are an avid boater your children could end up wearing life jackets for five or six hours a day. Most weekends mine end up wearing theirs for about 12 hours. Would you want to wear something uncomfortable for 12 hours? Doubtful. We experimented a bit and after several trips to Bass Pro Shops are finally satisfied. Nylon life jackets are half the price of the neoprene but half as comfortable as well. The nylon will chafe if worn on bare skin especially if children are jumping off the boat into the water over and over. I have applied more hydrocortisone to irritated little armpits than I care to. Buying jackets online is tempting, but fitting them is vital. What looks good on the shelf doesn’t always fit as well.

• Buckles make life easier. In older compliant children an easy to buckle and adjust life jacket is a must. In children who are younger it is better if they have buckles that they cannot unbuckle themselves. They will be less independent but it will help ensure they don’t randomly remove their life jacket without you.

• If you have small children, keep the life jackets in the house so that they can be applied prior to walking down to the dock and getting into the boat. It’s not fun to chase a slippery (freshly sun screened) child around the boat wrestling them to the ground and applying said life jacket. I have one child that does not relish his life jacket. Each application requires a 5 minute tantrum followed by acceptance and then finally moving on. We try to get the tantrum out of him on dry land so no one has to travel through the “No Wake” area while listening to a screaming two year old.

• Identify life jackets. I am the owner of four blue life jackets. We had many fights over whose life jacket belonged to whom. Identifying life jackets based on sunscreen stains is no easy task. Save yourself some trouble and buy different colors or use a permanent marker to identify each child’s vest. It’s no fun to settle any argument on the close quarters of the boat.

• Smaller children should have a leg strap. This is the strap that holds the life jacket on the child in the event of a spill overboard. We have found that keeping this strap snug will also help keep the life jacket down away from the face while in the boat or on dry land. A handle on the back of the life jacket is also handy in the smaller children. We use the handle to guide some of ours while loading and unloading near the dock.

• Allow children choices. We carry two life jackets for one of our more particular children. If after several hours he wants a change he can wear the jacket that fits him a bit differently. It allows him to have some control while maintaining our original requirement of always wearing a life jacket at all times.

• Store life jackets properly. We made this mistake early on and allowed the wet life jackets to stay in the boat in storage for the week. Hot Florida temperatures with dark boat storage of wet life jackets equals mold and mildew and a stink that is difficult to remove. Never store wet life jackets. Allow them to dry prior to storing in a well ventilated area. Do not store them in direct sunlight as this can shorten the life span by making material brittle and sometimes affecting the flotation material itself.

• Practice falling in the water with life jackets. Older children will enjoy this drill. We have encouraged our smaller non swimmers to practice floating in the ocean. We wanted them confident in their life jackets. Practicing these drills will remind children why we wear life jackets and can help a child remain calmer in the event of an actual emergency. Our children request practice drills often now.

• Life vests or jackets are much like car seats. We should always buy them new, not used. We need to make sure the fit is correct each and every time. Children will outgrow jackets. We must also check for proper adjustment. In younger children you should be able to pick up the child by the back of the vest without having it slip. If it slips it’s not tight enough. You can always visit your nearest Coast Guard office for a safety check as well.

I hope some of these tips can make your boating a little safer and your life jackets a bit more tolerable.

Enjoy the water but be safe and don’t take unnecessary risks. Being prepared will often prevent accidents from evolving into emergency situations. A fall overboard can be an innocent accident or it can turn into a devastating loss. It’s your choice.