""Pet @ www.gymratz.co.uk ;¬)"" wrote in message
k...
Jan Larsen wrote:
What is the easiest way to convert my garden pond into a sand pit for my
small child to play in rather than drown in?

I was thinking of just puncturing the membrane wait for the water to
dissapear fill with soil or something cheap and drainable up till 10"
deep, boards and then sand ?

Can't you make up a frame & mesh to go over the pond?
get the little-un in the swimming pool and teach him/her to swim.

Ours is just turning 5 in a few weeks and can now swim nearly a whole
length. besides which, even if he fell in the pond he'd be able to stand
up.

I was thinking of doing the same thing to our pond when we first moved in
but I am very glad I didn't as a pond is so much more educational and
interesting for a growing child than a bl'dy great big sh1t pit for every
cat in the neighbourhood.

Only my opinion of course, and the fact that I spent many hours as a kid
looking into the pond in our garden safely protected from harm by chicken
wire and big sticks.

I echo that too.
We have two ponds in the garden and our children (now 18 and 19) grew up
with them from birth, so to speak. Yes they can be dangerous but then so is
the average kitchen, stairs etc. We spent time with our children and taught
them about the pleasures of a pond, the wildlife and of course the dangers.
Ironically we now have to cover the pond because of a not so friendly Heron.
A child can drown in inches of water as you know; what people do not want is
for that child to drown through ignorance of the dangers of water.

A sand pit is an ideal thing to have though and I am glad we installed one
on the opposite side of the garden.