142 to have reflective patches and a whistle , and they come in hi-vis colour schemes .
Or if your kids are water confident , and by this , I mean they can swim unaided or comfortably keep themselves on their front , a buoyancy aid will be suitable . This does not have a neck collar , so it will not float a child on their back , leaving airways free however provide floatation to aid the rescue . A good buoyancy aid should have leg straps to prevent the buoyancy aid from riding up and making swimming difficult .
Booties Booties or water shoes are a great way of keeping your kids warm ; you lose a lot of heat through your feet , hands and head , so anything you can do to keep these areas warm will keep your little ones warmer for longer . Avoid wellies or anything that could fill with water and weigh your child down .
In the winter months , it is advised to keep little ones out of the water , but if you must consider layering up with synthetic layers as these retain heat ( never cotton , which draws heat from the body ), some brands sell small cags to keep off the wind chill or children ’ s waterproofs could be worn . Just ensure anything they wear will not waterlog and weigh them down . A warm hat is also essential as temperature drops .
A paddle is not an essential piece of kit if you are paddling , but a kid ’ s paddle is a great way to make them feel involved . More about entertainment later .
When writing this article , I reached out for top tips from some of our SUP community who regularly take their kids on the water , as with Lizzie on the previous page . It was nice to see many similar and shared bits of advice .
David Mellor (@ Pottyadventures ) David is an outdoor writer and speaker from Wales and takes his family everywhere . His Instagram page is well worth a visit for some child-friendly SUP inspiration .
David ’ s top tips :
• We absolutely love a paddle picnic and , when time allows , a full-on cook-up using our Omnia stove . We ’ ll strap everything to the board , paddle out and find a quiet spot where the kids can play , and we ’ ll cook dinner in the great outdoors . We all get to unwind and unplug from daily life in beautiful surroundings with only ourselves for company .
• Litter picking . We ’ ve got a Planet Patrol bucket and pair of litter pickers , and we ’ ll head out with our big yellow dry bag and collect whatever we can find that shouldn ’ t be there .
• The first thing we did was build their confidence in swimming . Once they could swim in a pool , we transferred that to swimming in open water lakes and finally the sea so they could experience moving water . We then showed them repeatedly how to get back on a board when they were in the water . I can ’ t believe the number of people I still see who can ’ t get back on a board they ’ ve fallen off ! We then reinforced this with games like tag and 180 jumps