06/08/2026
Father's Day is coming up in two weeks and, as parents, there is nothing more precious to us than our own children. Second to them, the most precious and important thing to us is the safety of the customers that visit the farm.
Drowning is an unbearable loss that brings tears to our eyes just thinking of it. This summer, we are again writing to spread drowning awareness and water safety education, because just like last summer and the summer before, the daggers are out from those that have not passed our swimming test and feel it’s too difficult, should not be required, or that our lifeguards are in some way unskilled, too young to decide what good swimming is, etc. But, we will persist because this is a topic that hits as close to home as it gets. So, we apologize in advance for the long post... .
Since 2014 we have required all events involving swimming have lifeguards, all persons ages eleven and under wear a life jacket, and all persons ages twelve and up pass a swim test if they wish to swim without a lifejacket. Our swim test is graded by lifeguards and aligns with what the American Red Cross recommends.
Our lifeguards are skilled at watching someone take a swim test and deciding if they pass or not. While some signs are obvious, others are subtle but distinctive; others still boil down to a judgement call. We use the water competency sequence to determine what level of “watermanship” a swimmer possesses and if that level is adequate to swim without flotation in our one and a half acre, twenty-five foot deep aquatic environment. Our lifeguards have to be unanimous in their determination that someone has passed and it falls on the lifeguard at the finish point of the test to give the news of a pass or not.
We all rotate through the post of the lifeguard communicating the final grade on the test, but, we have to have thick skin to work at that station. Regrettably, many individuals are so disappointed that they, or their child, have not passed the swim test that they take this information personally and become argumentative. We wish parents would know that we lifeguard with love in our hearts for the safety of their children. We are not trying to be mean. Open water is unforgiving and will drown all alike.
We have built our lifeguard team from the ground up and now have over fifty lifeguards, of which eleven are lifeguarding instructors and one is a lifeguarding instructor trainer. They are comprised of Eagle Scouts, Valedictorian’s, Jr. Marshalls, decorated high school athletes, varsity collegiate athletes, and Dean’s List members but more importantly, they are kind and compassionate. Giving news of not passing a test is never fun, but the polarized reaction of some folks to the news is a head-scratcher.
We would like our social media friends to be educated about why it’s so important to take water safety seriously. The links below can explain it much better than we can. The first two are articles we have our lifeguard’s study and understand. The third is one that we re-read whenever we start to question why we do what we do.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1356&context=ijare
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=ijare
http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article171021292.html
Life vests save lives in open water. We in no way want to endorse any particular company, but we buy ours from Overton’s because they’re good value and they work.
https://www.overtons.com/watersports/life-jackets-pfds/junior-kids-life-jackets
