Life Jacket

[ladyringo]

So, I went to the little gym at our complex today for my first workout there. No big deal! The work out went well! I intended on cooling down in the pool, even though there were several children of varying ages. Now, I finished my workout, did a little weights to work on my rotator cuff, and went out to the pool to cool off. Out there were several children and a couple of teenagers. I got into the pool and was just cooling down, treading water and working some resistance. I noticed something a little odd... having not spent a lot of time around children, there seems to be a new trend. When I was a kid, if you were under about the age of 4 or had a hard time swimming, you wore water wings. I saw kids there who were probably 6-7 that were wearing LIFE JACKETS. Now, the littles with the full body ones who were obviously young I can ALMOST understand... but a 6 year old? In a pool? If you're on a boat, on the ocean, on a river or other large body of water I can understand... but a pool? Do children just not learn to swim anymore?

Also, what's up with the bored moms who can't even be bothered to WATCH their children in the pool let alone interact with them? Some of my best memories are of my mom and dad playing with me in my grandparent's pool and of my dad and I going boogie boarding together and playing in the ocean from before the time I could walk. One mom was in the hot tub while her kids were playing in the pool, she wasn't even pretending to be interested, she was facing away from the pool. The other was at least watching...

So, anyway, can anybody explain to me why children that were old enough to know how to swim have to wear life jackets?