Pool Fence Questionnaire

This questionnaire is to be considered a guide to determining the child safety fence height in your backyard and should not be used by itself in determining how tall your pool fence should be. 

If you answered cautious children, grade yourself a 1. If you answered rambunctious children, grade yourself a 2.

Reason: If you know your children are calm well behaved and generally cautious consider yourself blessed. You probably are not going to have a problem with a 4-foot-tall fence. If your children aren’t little angels and you’re worried about them because they throw caution to the wind and can climb almost anything, then you know that regardless of anything else you should put up a fence higher than 4 feet.

If you answered one child and you’re not planning to have more children grade yourself a 1. More than 1 child under 4, grade yourself a 2.

Reason: If you have two or more children under the age of 4 you should realize that these children will work together to achieve a goal. They don’t necessarily need patio furniture to get over the top of a 4-foot tall fence because one child can help another get over this fence. Remember, the 4-foot tall fence is the MINIMUM height recommended by the USCPSC.

If you have a large backyard, grade yourself a 1. A small backyard, grade yourself a 2.

Reason: “The smaller the backyard the higher the fence”. I have told that to thousands of customers over the years. The reason is that the closer children play to a fence, the more opportunity they have to get over the top.

Under 20 feet away grade yourself a 1. Under 15 feet away grade yourself a 2. Under 10 feet away, grade yourself a 3.

Reason: Patio furniture is the most common way for a child to circumvent a pool fence. One of the smartest things parents can do is get the furniture out of the backyard. If that isn’t possible, then tie the furniture together so that individual pieces of furniture can’t be moved up to your fence. Don’t say, “My kid won’t do that”. Assume your children will do that and your pool area will be a much safer environment for your children when they are playing outside.

Evaluation from our (non-scientific) questionnaire

If the sum total from these questions totaled 4 a 4-foot fence is probably adequate.

If the sum total from these questions totaled 5 or 6, you should consider a pool fence higher than 4 feet tall.

If the sum total from your these questions totaled 7 or greater, you should strongly consider our 5-foot tall pool fence.

 

PLEASE REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WHEN DEALING WITH CHILDREN UNDER 4 YEARS OLD AND A SWIMMING POOL:

 

Children have NO FEAR

Children are attracted to the water

Children don’t know right from wrong

You can’t trust their judgment!

 

 

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