A former Butlin's lifeguard has explained why she never lets her young children use armbands.
Catherine Lofthouse used to work at the iconic British resort, making sure that people of all ages didn't get in trouble while having a dip.
While most parents would consider buoyancy aids a must for children of a certain age, she isn't so sure.
Catherine recalls watching a young one drift down the lazy river while being held up by their armbands before getting caught in an eddy.
"Nine times out of ten, the parents wouldn't even be in sight and had no idea their little one was in distress, and it only takes one
armband to slip off while a child is thrashing about, then they really are in danger," she wrote in the Sun.
Another time she took her eldest son, now 9, to a water park in Holland.
Do you agree with Catherine? Tell us in the comments below.
The aquatic arena ruled that everyone under 1.2m, regardless of swimming ability, had to wear armbands.
Catherine decided to lift her self-imposed ban on the flotation devices - something she would soon regret doing.
Her boy soon discovered that he couldn't paddle properly in the armbands, despite being able to 'swim like a fish' without them.
If anything, the pumped-up bits of plastic put him more in danger, she argued.
The former lifeguard has likened buoyancy aids to plastic covers on plug socks, designed to stop children poking their fingers into them.
All the socket covers do is override the safety shutters inbuilt into the plug point, she said.
"Instead of fostering pool confidence and focusing on water safety, too many parents think armbands are the be-all-and-end-all to keeping their child out of danger," Catherine added.
On a recent trip to Haven caravan park her anti-armband mentality was entrenched further.
"The difference between my two-year-old, who knows to stay in his depth when we aren't holding him, to cling to the wall and clamber along it to get to the steps to get out, and children aged 5 or 6, who are still in armbands with no water safety awareness, is worrying," she said.
Catherine argues that there should be an adult for every child under-five in a pool to ensure things don't go wrong, and so that parents aren't lulled into a false sense of security by armbands.
