Gardens

[boris1gary]

The garden 2006

[k0llectable5]

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@polksaladallie wrote:

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@secondhand-wonderland wrote:

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@polksaladallie wrote:

My reaction was because I was shocked that you have no laws like we do.  A child can drown in 2 inches of water.  We have strict fencing laws here, and those laws have resulted in a dramatic drop in child drownings.  Babies and toddlers are most at risk, and it is appalling to put all the blame on the carer.

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I disagree Polks.  If a child drowned on my watch it would be my fault because if it wasn't my fault, whos fault would it be? 

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What about car crashes?  Would you take all the blame?

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Theres no comparison imo. Keeping a watchful eye on a child who is playing outside is totally different to having a car crash.  But if the crash was my fault then I would take all the blame. 

[j*oono]

I don't understand how our local council can charge a yearly pool inspection fee whether they inspect your fences or not (they haven't for 10 years) and yet here is the local council park.

Open to the public and not a single fence in sight.  

Not that I want it fenced.  It's a beautiful park.  I agree with pool fencing but not if it makes people complacent.

[2106greencat]

.....exactly - as is the ocean, and the many lakes and rivers we all camp by...

there are any number of child protection devices for pools, stairs, cupboards, doors, electrical outlets. etc etc

but it all really comes down to 'parenting' and common sense.

No matter my pool is fenced, no matter my front gate is locked, no matter you don't talk to strangers, if I couldn't see or hear my toddler, I would be looking for them quicksmart.

Lets all remember a thread not long ago regarding different laws in different countries - it doesn't make us/them wrong or right, it makes us/them different.

[azureline**]

I am all for pool fencing, where I am, we must have 1.3m fences, ours are 1.5m.

My grandchildren under 5 can't climb it and those over 5 know not to go in unless accompanied.

Lakes and ponds in parks are different, imo, children under 5 are not unsupervised (ideally) in places like that. If we are near water, we have a family rule, 1 adult to 1 child, that way no one thinks someone else is watching them.

As for ponds in front yards, unfenced, I think they should have mesh just under the water.

[polksaladallie]

The problem is that not everybody is as diligent as you, so we must care about the others and try to save as many lives as we can.

[***super_nova***]

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@this-one-time-at-bandcamp wrote:

We do have laws........ all swimming pools are required to have fencing...........however, as I mentioned, water features with less than 16 inches of depth are exempt.........otherwise that  2x2 fountain in a front yard would be required to have a 4 foot fence around it.  My insurance agent has no problem with my pond.

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OK, it looked big and deep to me in the photo.  🙂

Unfortunately, nobody can watch kids every second, and that is all what it took for te little 2 years old boy to run away.  He drowned in local lake, few hundred yards from his home.  Unless you have nothing else to do, you cannot watch child every second.  My daughter was an escape artist, she would climb 6ft fences, and get up in tall trees with ease before she was 3.  All what it took was to answer a phone or for few moments pay attention to something I was cooking, and she would be gone.  We lived in a large house, so it took some running around looking for her; upstairs, downstairs, front garden, back backgarden, behind the tennis court (her favourite hiding spot), before running out on the street.  Then there was the possibility of her going left of right.   Leafy suburb in Sydney, with winding roads, thick tree trunks, and cars parked that you could not  see very far.  It was a  nightmare.

[j*oono]

Good idea Az. As they do with wishing wells.  A steel grate under the surface, although I think that might be more to stop the pilfering 😄

[***super_nova***]

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@silvernanny22 wrote:

I , too have an old bath as a fishpond on my back deck. It is looking a bit on the plain side.

Can you tell me Supernova what are the plants in your bath/pond?

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I have miniature water lilies, and the other stuff is called parrot weed 

It does tend to take over, so I keep pulling it out and composting it.  I also had some  Egeria, but cannot see any in the photo.

[azureline**]

Key locked doors, key locked gates, all that is essential when you have children.

[this-one-time-at-bandcamp]

Actually, a number of years ago, I installed netting over the pond, attached to hinged frames, so I could raise them for maintenance.........I'd love to tell you that it was an attempt to child-proof the pond, but it was actually to blue heron-proof the pond.

On my neighbor's roof.............checking out the buffet