About Neige Var
Once upon a time, Neige Var was an operating room nurse and downtown dweller who leisurely spent her time dining out or entertaining friends. The birth of her son changed all that. Now she's a snap-happy suburban mom on unpaid leave with a knack for organizing play dates. Check in with Neige as she continues to adjust to her new role, her new location and her new life.
When we started thinking about moving out of the city, we hoped for more living and yard space. I never envisioned having a pool. As it turned out, the house we fell in love with also had an in-ground saltwater pool. This was almost the deal breaker for me -- I’m quite paresseuse (which means lazy in French, and honestly sounds so much nicer) and felt that taking care of a pool would be too much work. But, we loved the house and figured we would grow to love the pool.
I spent last summer frequenting the pool store with lots of questions and water samples. I became very familiar with my pool’s system, and spent many an afternoon fishing out bugs, leaves and more leaves!
Hard facts
As we prepare to open our pool for the summer, our priority is making it safe for Neelan to be around.
Quebec has the highest rate of pool drownings in all of Canada. It’s no wonder, with 300,000 backyard pools in Quebec (not counting inflatable pools). According to government statistics, there have been a total of 120 deaths between 1986 and 2005 of children age 1 to 4. Pool safety should not be taken lightly.
Safety first
I know it’s been mentioned before, but I do not think safety measures can be repeated enough:
- Never leave a child unsupervised
- Put a proper fence around your pool
- Have life jackets and use them
- Recognize the signs of drowning
- Learn the basics of CPR
- Make rules for your pool.
We plan on taking a pool-safety and CPR course this year and on installing a fence around our pool. It will be a little unsightly, but well worth the peace of mind.
Image: Emsago, stock.xchng
