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Adelaide mum shares a video showing her toddler climbing a pool fence in just 21 seconds. She is sharing to save a life.

Wendy Atkinson shared the video on Facebook in order to highlight the dangerous and encourage parents to always keep an eye on their children, reports 7 news.

The video, which has had over 421,000 views, shows Ms Atkinson’s two-year-old son Brodie easily climbing and opening a 1.45 metre gate.

She told News Corp that her goal was to warn parents and to prevent children from drowning.

“The fact that my son is in a nappy really brings the issue home,” Ms Atkinson told The Sunday Courier Mail.

“It does start with supervision but children as quick as they are can get out of your clutches and when they do, 21 seconds is not enough time for any parent to react.

“The South Australian standard height of a pool fence is 1.2m and it’s not high enough. Clearly no fence is safe, not one of them a deterrent for some kids.”

The Christie Downs mum of four said the first time she saw her son climbing the fence she “read him the riot act”, but following several child drownings this summer decided to film his feat to show parents how quickly things can get away from them.

“I wanted it to sink in peoples mind just how quick these kids are,” she said.

“It’s vigilance but it’s also just really hard. I’ve got three other kids to watch and these poor families are being absolutely hammered and for what? It’s a never ending battle,” she said.

“I’m no expert by any stretch of the imagination. But my son is teaching me and others that we need to pay attention. He’s telling us that it’s so easy.”

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  • As a pool owner, this really frightens me!

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  • This is probably why a lot of people are now using double thickness glass not the current type of regulation pool fences.

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  • This was so interesting to watch. You can be as vigilant as you want, but if a child wants something, they’ll do it or get it. And at this age, to be so switched on. Frightening really. However, this family is aware of what they need to do.

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  • Very smart of you to share this, thank you so much.

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  • Thank you for sharing this video very helpful. I think we should be looking at putting a pool alarm and gate alarms. Fencing a pool is just not enough, kids are more clever then we think.

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  • This is scary to think a child so young can climb this fence. I hope people will understand how quickly these accidents can happen and stop blaming the parents. Thank you so much for pointing this out

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  • I was shocked that someone so little could climb the fence so easily. Our pool fence laws are surely not adequate. Are the glass fences any safer. They would be harder to climb but the glass must be ultra strong. It scares me when you can not take your eyes off kids for just a minute. I know, my son crossed a three lane highway in a few seconds and praise God I caught him before he went over the other 3 lanes. Little ones are so smart these days and you can’t have eyes in the back of your head.

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  • Oh my god
    God protect our kids

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  • Not sure why this is so shocking surely everyone knows a child like this!

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  • We have a lock built into the pool gate so we have no problem with any unwanted visitors . The video gives other kids the idea should not have been published

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  • How clever and yet scary !! So important to not take your eyes of your child for one single second !

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  • My 3 yo son climbed out of the preschool fencing (1.6m high pool safe) and escaped. Luckily the preschool is within the main school grounds so he was seen running away while all the teachers were looking for him within the preschool grounds. No child had ever escaped the preschool before, they became very hypervigilent as a result. Some kids are just little escape artists and no amount of fencing will keep them in. I swear I have developed extra pairs of eyes and a sixth sense about my son. I never take my eyes off him.

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  • I have always maintained that pool fences don’t stop children from drowning. In fact, I think they make parents complacent. My daughter, who is now 20 could scale a pool fence just like this child did, except she didn’t even open the gate, she just did a flip over the top and would run straight to the pool. It was the same method she used to get out of her cot at a young age. I hope that by sharing this video parents take more care when the have a pool. Kids can get into so much trouble so quickly in the water that you can’t take your eyes of them for a second. I think many parents get distracted even when they are out there with their kids. You really do have to be like a lifeguard and never stop watching them not even for a minutes.

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  • Wow… it just goes to show how quick and agile our kids are.

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  • Wow he is quick and very clever!

    I am glad his mum has filmed this to make other parents aware of what children that young are actually capable off

    I dislike the fact that she has laughed during the video which shows her encouragement to him, I hope that he doesn’t become of the statistics

    The only safe thing to do with children when you have a pool is to teach them water safety, show them videos of what happens if you go into a pool without an adult and for goodness safe make sure they are having swimming lessons – don’t put it off because you think it is expensive or you haven’t got time, it really can save a child’s life even as young as this little one!

    Reply

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