Having two daughters ages three years old and one year old we are always looking to improve our experience when we go to the swimming pool or lake. We were looking for great pontoon boat accessories that could keep our children safe and help the whole family have fun on the lake. Our three-year-old is at a point where she wants to be independent and wants to make her own decisions such as what to play and where to play but she also doesn’t yet have the confidence or ability to swim by herself. When we first started taking her to the lake and to swimming pools we initially used a standard infant life jacket. We found the standard infant life jacket to be very uncomfortable for our daughter. She didn’t like to wear it while riding in our pontoon boat and when we took her into the water with the life jacket on she had a lot of difficulty keeping upright and staying comfortable. I appreciate that the life jacket was doing its job and keeping her head well above water (with the pillow in the back) but at the same time it did not create an enjoyable experience for her either in the lake swimming by our pontoon boat or at the swimming pool.
That’s where the Stearns Puddle Jumper Life Jacket comes into play. The moment we put it while sitting on our pontoon boat on we knew that she would love it. She immediately jumped into the lake and enjoyed playing with our friends and family. We noticed that unlike the standard life jacket Stearns Puddle Jumper pontoon boat accessory offered a very balanced flotation device. She was not struggling to either face forward or even float on her back. She could really choose both options with no problems at all. The Stearns Puddle Jumper Life Jacket appears to provide the perfect amount of flotation but not too much flotation where we are confident in knowing that she can keep her head above water whenever she needs to but also is not too much of a hindrance for her to still get around by herself and continue learning how to swim independently.
Please note that we are always right next to her all the time and are not just depending on the Stearns Puddle Jumper Life Jacket as a “babysitter”. We have found at the stern life vest has created an enjoyable swimming experience for our daughter when going out on our pontoon boat. We have not found another flotation device that is as enjoyable as the Stearns Puddle Jumper Life Jacket and consider the Stearns Puddle Jumper Life Jacket to be one of our critical pontoon boat accessories to enjoy our fun time on the lake. Please note that the Stearns Puddle Jumper Life Jacket meets the U.S. Coast Guard certification for an safety flotation device. However, it cannot be considered to be a life-saving device when riding on a boat or hanging out on the boat dock. So continue packing your standard Class A life jackets in your pontoon boat in addition to the Stearns Puddle Jumper Life Jacket.
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