How To Fit And Borrow A Child's Life Jacket

Summer Water Safety Tip

Summer will soon be here and for many parents, this may be the first time your family goes boating. To make sure everyone is ready, the non-profit BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water has three free online resources at BoatUS.com/Foundation/LJLP/fit_video to make sure the kids are safe:

How to properly fit a kid's lifejacket: Having a child wear an adult or incorrectly sized life jacket could be as dangerous as having no life jacket at all, giving parents a false sense of security. A short online video explains how to fit a right-sized life jacket to your child.

How to borrow a kid's life jacket if you don't have one: Boaters don't always have every kid-sized life jacket aboard. However, the BoatUS Foundation has over 500 locations across the country — local marinas, fire departments and other waterfront businesses — where parents can borrow a kid's life jacket (in various sizes) for the day or weekend, absolutely free.

The Web site allows parents to search for a Kid's Life Jacket Loaner location near them. The program loaned out over 90,000 life jackets last year, and three lives have been saved to date. Know your state's life jacket laws: Confused about who needs a life jacket? The Web site has a state-by-state listing of life jacket regulations.

For more information on boating water safety and the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water go to BoatUS.com/Foundation.