Safety experts have shared a clever 13-colour chart that shows how your kid’s choice of swimwear could save their life this summer – and we’ll never be buying blue swimming costumes again.
With the school summer holidays fast approaching, road trips to the beach, the swimming pool, and fresh water lakes are likely on kids’ and parents’ minds alike. It’s a great time to get out into the outdoors and enjoy the cold water, but there’s one very important choice you’ll make on those days and it could save your child’s life.
In a now viral Facebook post, experts from Plympton Fire department and Praire Lakes Healthcare System highlighted how easy or difficult it can be to see different colour swimwear through both the clear water of a swimming pool and the murkier water of lakes and oceans. Using a clever 13-colour chart, it showed the stark contrast between hard-to-see blues and the easily seen vibrant tones like pinks and oranges.
“This is a great safety guide for children swimming in lakes and swimming pools,” they wrote in the post. “The colour of the bathing suit can make it easier or more difficult to see children while they are swimming. This is a good reminder to always have adult supervision when children are swimming.”
The worst performing colours are white, black, blue, grey and dark shades of red and orange. While these seem like bold tones on land, in the water where light scatters differently, they become desaturated and harder to see.
Greens, browns, and other earthy neutral colours are no good for swimming in open water as they’re easily mistaken for the plants growing there and also become desaturated in sunlight. So, neon pink and neon orange, as well as yellow for clear swimming pools, are the colours we want to be shopping for.
Parents flooded the comments on the post, with many sharing that they had no idea how important the colour choice could be. “This is an excellent tip! No matter how prepared you think you may be, there is always something new to learn,” one wrote. While another added, “Very interesting, I had never thought about the colour like this before.”
When you’re out and about this summer, your children’s safety, especially in the summer heat, will likely be your top priority. We’ve got you covered with the 15 best sun creams for you and your family as well as with the new ‘stranger danger’ phrase your child needs to understand to stay safe. And for those rainy days where screens are our best entertainment, why not try these 6 expert-led tips to keeping your kids safe online?
