Boating With Children
If you want to make some great memories with your kids this spring and summer, consider taking them on a cruise across the lake! Here in upstate New York, we have no end of waterways for you and your family to explore via boat, and you’ll have no shortage of options for marine activities. You can sunbathe, swim, tow inner tubes, fish or teach your kids about navigation, the environment and water safety.
Since it can be somewhat challenging to bring kids on the water with you, this guide to boating with children by your Syracuse boat dealer, Mark's Leisure Time Marine, should help you out. With locations in the cities of Conesus and Canandaigua, NY, we’re here to serve you for all your maritime needs and answer any questions you have before your next sail or cruise with the whole family!
Teach Your Kids To Swim
Kids can start learning to swim as early as a year of age, when you can start them in introductory courses designed to acclimatize babies to water. Formal lessons can begin at age three or four. Get your kids swimming as early as you can so they become comfortable in the water and know how to keep themselves afloat and deal with obstacles. One necessity is to teach them how to escape a riptide: swim parallel to the shore and perpendicular to the riptide until free from it, then swim at an angle towards the shore.
Accustom Children To Wearing Life Jackets
Children must wear life jackets. All your passengers should wear them, but they’re particularly important for kids. You’ll want them to have well-fitting jackets with head flotation, crotch straps and a self-righting ability. Test jackets in a public pool or shallow pond before heading out onto a deep lake or the ocean. Wear your own life jacket to model good safety practices to your children! Life jackets need to be worn on the dock before boarding and not removed until after you’re safely ashore again.
Talk To Kids About Safety
Make sure kids know the rules of the boat and what they should and should not do while aboard. Tell them how dangerous running on the deck is, as they may slip on water or hit an obstacle and hurt themselves or even fall overboard. Show them where the first aid kit, emergency radio, life preserver and other pieces of safety gear are and how to use them.
Pack Necessary Supplies
You’ll need to stock your craft with all the necessary supplies for your family’s safety and comfort. A well-stocked first aid kit is an absolute must, with plenty of bandages, ointments, seasickness cures, painkillers and any medicine your children regularly need for chronic conditions, like asthma inhalers or insulin for diabetes. A pair of tweezers will come in handy for removing splinters, too.
Kids will get hungry and thirsty sooner than you might, and it will make them moody if they aren’t sated. Bring a cooler of snacks and drinks, including bottled water or juice, sandwiches, string cheese, fresh fruit, nuts, granola bars and anything else that will tide over hunger and make for a happy crew.
Keep Children Warm
Temperatures out on the water are often much colder than on land. Kids, with their smaller frames, will take a chill more quickly than adults, especially if they’re wet. Pack extra clothing, including sweaters and jackets as well as changes of socks so that kids can stay warm on board. After they come in from swimming and towel off, you’ll want to get your children out of wet swimsuits and into dry clothes as soon as possible. Bring some blankets to wrap them up in case the winds pick up. Warm kids are happy kids!
Looking for boats for sale in upstate New York? You’ll want to visit Mark’s Leisure Time Marine to see our full inventory of new and used boats in many styles by all the top brands!
As one of the premier boat dealers in New York, Mark’s Leisure Time Marine is also here to help you with all your Finger Lakes rental needs. We offer boat rentals near Rochester, NY, including Conesus Lake rentals. Our dealership proudly serves Conesus, Canandaigua, Rochester and Syracuse, NY.