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Tips for boating with small children?
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Author:  Drader [ Tue May 27, 2014 4:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Tips for boating with small children?
So I'm new to boating. We have 2 small kids one is 4 and our second is 1. My oldest is no problem at all. But my youngest, that's another story. The second her life jacket goes on she is instantly screaming and in tears. Just wandering if anyone else has had a similar issue and if so, what in the hell do I do to fix it.
Author:  LouC [ Tue May 27, 2014 4:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
She's telling you she's not ready.
Can you get her used to wearing it at the beach or a pool? Try to pair wearing it with a fun activity for her.
Author:  298VISTA2000 [ Tue May 27, 2014 5:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
Drader wrote:
So I'm new to boating. We have 2 small kids one is 4 and our second is 1. My oldest is no problem at all. But my youngest, that's another story. The second her life jacket goes on she is instantly screaming and in tears. Just wandering if anyone else has had a similar issue and if so, what in the hell do I do to fix it.


When it comes to a toddler's life jacket that is USCG approved while underway, you don't have much of a choice other than those bulky things that all little kids hate. You just need to keep at it and hopefully she will get used to it. However, for running around the dock or shore or even swimming with an adult, we switched our kids to something like this because they are much more comfortable and they won't fight us when it comes to putting them on.

Image
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Author:  LVChris [ Tue May 27, 2014 5:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
Wow...had almost the exact same problem with mine...she's 2 now and loves going on the boat. Here's what we did....bought another life jacket...she just didn't like the one we started with. They both had the head support but the first one was just too much for her. Don't get me wrong, she still has her fits...but it's much better.
Author:  captkevin [ Tue May 27, 2014 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
Take your child shopping & let them pick out a new life jacket. My daughter picked Dora & loves it.
Author:  TX H210SS [ Tue May 27, 2014 10:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
Get stickers of her favorite toy characters and let her plaster them on the jacket...anything you can get to personalize it.
Author:  deafwish [ Wed May 28, 2014 1:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
A babysitter? :P :wink:
Author:  LouC [ Wed May 28, 2014 5:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
Most would not wait, but honestly getting a boat, or a pool, can be a nightmare till your youngest child is about 5 or so. By that time they have reached the age of reason and are less like a small barbarian. You really can't reason with toddlers, just like you can't negotiate with extremists LoL.....
Author:  Drader [ Wed May 28, 2014 6:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
I suppose we will just keep trying. We had a little success yesterday. We put her in the jacket and let her splash in a kiddie pool. I think we will look at other jackets. I think maybe the neoprene jackets may just be a little uncomfortable to her at this point. I'm thinking I should have bought a bigger boat that away when anchored she would have some more room to move around.
Author:  captkevin [ Wed May 28, 2014 9:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
Lots of shade & snacks help with little ones.
Author:  txvista [ Thu May 29, 2014 4:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
I just started making my son wear the life jacket around the house a little each day. It became 2nd nature after awhile.
Author:  john55c [ Fri May 30, 2014 11:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Tips for boating with small children?
txvista wrote:
I just started making my son wear the life jacket around the house a little each day. It became 2nd nature after awhile.


+1 Allow them to pick out life jacket they want, then get them used to wearing it, especially having your oldest into it. Have your oldest put it on and wear it around and the younger one will follow. We have been boating with our kids since they were very young (less than a year) and they love it. They know the first rule is that we have to wear our life jackets in order to be on the boat. Now that they know how much fun it is, there is no issues, and last summer my son was 2 and my daughter 4.5. When I pulled them up from the basement and loaded up the boat, they were so excited to see the life jackets. It's just the initial shock of it and discomfort. The older the child gets, the more comfortable the life jacket because they really aren't designed to be comfortable for under 2...just for safety.
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