Can children come to the beach without their parents?

An important innovation was adopted by the deputies of the Altai Territory. In this region there is a law “On limiting the stay of minors in public places on the territory of the Altai Territory.” Changes were made to it: a list of places where teenagers are forbidden to be was added. You can not appear where people smoke, in bookmakers and betting shops, in emergency and settled houses. And also – unaccompanied by adults – on the beaches. Moreover, any person can be an accompanying person, not necessarily a parent, guardian or other relative.

At the same time, the Altai deputies are fully aware that you cannot put an inspector on every beach and on every “abandoned place”. They rely on vigilant adults.

I must say that at the federal level there is no such law – the regions themselves have the right to approve the list of public places and establish the degree of their restriction for teenagers – either it is prohibited at all, or only accompanied by adults. Such powers are given to them by the law “On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation”.

However, if a child is found swimming unaccompanied by adults, his parents – regardless of the region and the laws adopted in it – may be held administratively liable. There are rules for using the beach, established by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, according to which it is forbidden to leave a child unattended on the beach. Moreover, this does not depend on swimming skills: even if a teenager has the first youth category in swimming, he overcomes 50 meters with a butterfly in half a minute, plays water polo and jumps with a “swallow” – it is still forbidden to swim in public places without supervision. Moreover, there are no clarifications by age in the regulations, so the restriction is valid until the age of majority.

What is important to do before the swimming season? First of all, talk with the child the basic rules of behavior in the water. You can’t swim in unequipped places – various dangers can be hidden at the bottom in the form of broken bottles, snags or other objects. You can’t allow hypothermia, try to swim across the river “on a dare” (what if you don’t have enough strength, and it’s still far from the shore), you can’t swim close to the ships, swim behind the buoys. Even if it seems to you that the buoys are set too close, this may well be justified – for example, a cold current passes behind them.

It is also necessary to say which games can be played on the water, and which ones cannot. For example, shouting: “save, help, sink” for the sake of a joke is a stupid, harmful, reckless occupation and … there can be many epithets, one harsher than the other.

By the way, it is necessary to take into account: people drown quietly and quickly. A drowning person – actually drowning – simply doesn’t have the air to scream. This is an important rule for parents: if a child squeals, screams and splashes in the water, then everything is fine with him. Bathes silently – be sure to check if everything is in order. There have been cases of children drowning in close proximity to unsuspecting parents.

The second important rule for adults is that a specially trained person should rescue a drowning person. Often attempts at heroism lead to a double tragedy. Rescuers are constantly on duty at specially equipped reservoirs, who monitor the situation and can come to the rescue. And even in such conditions, rescuers do not always have time – once again: people are drowning quietly and quickly.

Yana Maevskaya, based on materials from “My House Moscow”

Photo by Moskovskaya Pravda