Most kids love to play in the water whether they can swim or not. Monitoring their safety during that time can be a nerve-wrecking experience if the age ranges vary significantly. Before you begin, learn the swimming abilities of each child. It helps if you know whether the child will follow instructions without being held by the hand continually. If the child can't do this, then you will have to keep them very close to you at all times with constant monitoring.

Older children who can swim well need to be assigned a buddy. Every few minutes, call for them to get with their buddy. This will give you another pair of eyes and ears watching every child. If it is a public pool, you will probably have a life guard helping with this. In clouded water, you will need to check more often. Don't allow anyone to dive who can't swim.

For older non-swimmers, assign a specific part of the pool for the buddies to stay. Make sure the water is shallow enough for them to stand easily with 1/3 of their body out of the water. They can play, jump, and splash all they want as long as they don't annoy other guests. Make buddy calls every 5 or 10 minutes.

Small children need to be taken to the kiddy area and watched continually. You may even want to engage in interactive play with them. Furnish them water toys to enjoy in the shallow water. They should be able to sit without having their head under water.

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