http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_6394463

Basically a 4 year old child drowned at Great America wave pool prompting CF to require all children under 4 feet to now wear life vests. Will be implemented in all CF parks soon.

As we know CF's top value is guest safety.

Actually its capacity.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_6394463

Basically a 4 year old child drowned at Great America wave pool prompting CF to require all children under 4 feet to now wear life vests. Will be implemented in all CF parks soon.

As we know CF's top value is guest safety.

I think you mean their top priority...

...and Nick is right, it is capacity.

Capacity goes above Safety in the four cornerstones???

That's reasuring!

http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_6394463

Basically a 4 year old child drowned at Great America wave pool prompting CF to require all children under 4 feet to now wear life vests. Will be implemented in all CF parks soon.

As we know CF's top value is guest safety.

So does Busch, Disney, Universal, HW, etc... I am sure they all have guest safety as a top value. They also all have not get sued and keeping insurance cost low as a top value as well.

Cedar Fair apparently needs to be a babysitter now, and this is there way of doing it. I was 4'6 in Kindergarten so obviously the kids aren't too old that have to wear them. If there parents don't like the rule there are other attractions that they can ride.

I have my 4 year old wear one of the free ones that they provide. They are actually pretty nice, they fit, and there seem to be plenty to go around. I know I feel a lot better knowing he has it on. I know I would never just turn him loose in a wave pool.

Coming from a lifeguards' point of view, this is a really good thing. Whenever I am watching over any pool at GWL, if I see a kid with no lifevest on swimming, I get extremely nervous, and watch those people more closely, which takes my attention partially away from the other guests. So Im glad they implemented this.

Actually its capacity.

Are you saying that safety is not CF's top priority?

Or did I miss something?

Actually its capacity.

Are you saying that safety is not CF's top priority?

Or did I miss something?

Obviously your not picking up on the sarcasm

I never let my nephew near water without me being around I dont think kids under 12 should be around water anyway so this is a good thing.

Actually its capacity.

Are you saying that safety is not CF's top priority?

Or did I miss something?

Obviously your not picking up on the sarcasm

And with sarcasm, there is a .

And it would be "you are" not "your".

Yeah, if you're going to use sarcasm, use the emoticons. We pay good money for those things.

^ Or I could use you're

Yeah, if you're going to use sarcasm, use the emoticons. We pay good money for those things.

Love me some emoticons

But back to the topic, I think this is a good move by CF to add this restriction to further ensure something like what happened at Great America won't happen again.

Honestly though, why would a parent not keep track of their 4 year old in a wave pool?

When my family goes on the boat, both of my kids (6 & 4) wear life jackets. They wear them even when they are on the beach playing in the sand. As sad as this incident is, there really is more blame on the parent(s) than on the lifeguard.

It was implemented on Sunday when we were there. My 4 yr old was playing in the 2 inch water in front of my wife when a lifeguard came up and told her he had to put on a life jacket.

Good for them, but again I agree, where was the parents in all of this? I have an 8 year old nephew and I wouldn't let him swim alone.

Everyone is forgetting:

This day in age its not the parents fault if the child commits a crime, its the governments for not telling the parents how to properly raise their child.

GO PBS!

^ Excellent point.

I have a bunch of friends that are teachers. The stories they have about parents blaming them for the kids failure in school are non-stop.

My particular favorite is the parent blaming the teacher for the student not doing homework.

Yeah- HOME-WORK!

Unfortunately we live in an era where the motto is: "it is everyone elses fault but mine."

The drowning incident - It couldn't possibly be the parent's fault for not watching their own 4 year old kid, it has to be the park's fault, or how about the manufacturer's fault for there being too much water in such a small area. What were they thinking?

And I'm sure the water temperature was too cold and there was a prevailing wind out of the west and and and... I totally agree with you. Some parents just don't get it. But it just makes sense for CF to take the initiative to try to eliminate anything like this happening again at their parks.

It was an accident, though unfortunate. I don't think anyone is completely at fault. I think the parents as well as CF and the lifeguard all have a responsibility. Responsibility is completely different than at fault. Accidents happen, you can't necessarily go blaming everyone and holding everyone accountable. Could the parents have done a better job watching there child? YES .. could the lifeguard paid better attention? YES ... could CF have stricter policies regarding lifepreservers on children? YES ... but that does not mean it is completely anyone's fault. All of those involved have a responsibility. I don't think anyone necessarily did anything wrong ... who knows maybe the child ran off from the parents or maybe the lifeguard really couldn't see the child at the time. Accidents happen. CF has taken a step to improve their responsiblity.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...07/19/DROWN.TMP

The mother is trying to blame GA. It is unfortunate and probably coming from her reaction to recent loss. The expert and community response goes along with what I said. It was her responsibility. If you reach the comments its interesting that after a few minutes she realized her 4yr old was gone, and she sent an 8yr old to check and after several minutes ???? WHAT! finally notifies a lifeguard. It amazes me how parents think they can just sit back and relax and act like the lifeguard is a babysitter. I know this is unfortunate, but this woman seriously was negligent from what I have been reading.

"I want to warn all parents that they need to watch their kids at all times, because (Great America) doesn't do their job," Flores said.

WOW! You have to warn parents to watch their kids? That's when you know someone doesn't get it.

It amazes me how parents think they can just sit back and relax and act like the lifeguard is a babysitter. I know this is unfortunate, but this woman seriously was negligent from what I have been reading.

I totally agree with you.

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1078872.html

KI is one big babysitter.

Good idea. You never know what can happen, and the masses of people there on a hot day-they can't possibly watch them all. When I was a kid with swimming lessons we were always taught to have a buddy system. Are they not doing that anymore??

KI is one big babysitter.

That brings up an intresting question.

How old is "old enough" to be at the park by yourself?

Perhaps I'll make this a poll....

The water park or the dry park?

And is by yourself better or worse than in a pack of same-age kids?

Good idea...I have seen parents drop off kids as young as 9 or 10 to be by themselves. There are a few mature 9 year olds out there, but I think that is too young-teenagers not so much. But for swimming-no one should ever swim alone adult or not. While fishing in alaska, we were strongly encouraged to wear the life vests-just short of being required-not so much for swimming ability, but for cold-and the licenses had to be on our person in case we needed to be identified. Scary thing when you think about it.

Poll for both. A group of teens unchaperoned can be just as bad or worse.