Hatfield
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Having lived in both states, I can say that those laws are very loosely observed. I guess parents feel like if their kids are good swimmers, the lifevest is not necessary.
I taught my child to swim at 2 years of age for the simple reason that we spent so much time on open water. We always made her wear her vest, but not all of our friends made their children wear one.
I hope these boys are found safe.
That is very good of you to teach her to swim and to use life vests when on water.
Swimming is an important skill to know.
I realize teenagers dont like to put them on all the time when in a boat and I have to admit that even I dont always wear one when I am fishing in my john boat on my local lakes but will have it right near me. They say its best to just always wear it because you never know when you are going to be thrown over the side.
Ive gotten much better at wearing mine most all the time when fishing the lakes.
Here is a tip that I have found and may help others.
Shop around for a very comfortable "Vest Style" life vest.
Since I am always casting a rod and reel I found that they sometimes get in my way so I shopped around until I found a really comfortable one that was slimmer than some others I had found. The cutouts around the arm made it more comfortable and I even found a color I liked.
So the tip is that it takes some shopping around and careful selection to make sure you get one that fits as comfortable as possible. People will be more apt to wear one if it is somewhat comfortable.
Maybe even take the child with you and have them help choose which one they want. That way when in the boat they will be more apt to want to wear it if they chose it themselves.
It took me a long time to find the certain 1 I found that I like. Most are terribly uncomfortable.
Even though I dont water ski, I ended up choosing more of a water ski life vest because it was so comfortable.