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Pool Lifeguards Warn Parents: Smartphones Distract from Child Supervision
🇩🇪 Germany /Technology

Pool Lifeguards Warn Parents: Smartphones Distract from Child Supervision

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Context piece
  • German swimming pool staff are increasingly concerned about parents distracted by smartphones while children swim, leading to potential emergencies.
  • Lifeguards emphasize that parents retain full supervision responsibility, as pool staff cannot provide individual child monitoring.
  • Initiatives like posters are being used to raise awareness about the dangers of inattentive supervision, highlighting the critical need for parental focus.

Staff at public swimming pools in North Rhine-Westphalia are issuing warnings about parents engrossed in their smartphones, neglecting their children in and around the water. The silent danger of drowning can occur within seconds, and lifeguards are increasingly finding young children unsupervised.

The lifeguard intervenes immediately if something happens, but they cannot provide personal supervision for every single child. That is neither legally nor practically possible.

— Ralf GroßmannSpokesperson for the Federal Association of German Lifeguards on the limits of staff intervention.

Ralf Großmann, spokesperson for the Federal Association of German Lifeguards, stressed that parental supervision remains paramount. "The lifeguard intervenes immediately if something happens, but they cannot provide personal supervision for every single child. That is neither legally nor practically possible," he stated. Pool operators like KölnBäder in Cologne report regularly finding ten to fifteen unsupervised children during busy weekends, often while parents are distracted on the sunbathing lawns.

Judith Jussenhofen, a spokesperson for KölnBäder, noted that smartphones are frequently the cause of this inattention. In some cases, staff have had to involve police or youth welfare services after repeated calls for parents went unanswered. "A public swimming pool is not a childcare facility where children can be dropped off while parents relax," Jussenhofen emphasized.

A public swimming pool is not a childcare facility where children can be dropped off while parents relax.

— Judith JussenhofenSpokesperson for Cologne's municipal pool operator on the expectations of parental presence.

To combat this issue, swimming pools are employing various awareness campaigns. In Essen, posters from the "Augenblick" (Moment) initiative aim to sensitize parents and guardians to their duty of care. These visuals starkly warn that children can drown silently in an inattentive moment, with one poster reading, "Dad, you were my hero. Until your phone was more important than me." Cologne's municipal operator also uses warning signs and posters to remind visitors of the critical importance of active supervision.

Dad, you were my hero. Until your phone was more important than me.

— Initiative Augenblick posterA slogan from a poster campaign designed to raise awareness about distracted parenting at swimming pools.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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