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I was just talking about this with a friend last night. Her mom has a pool and has offered the same. She's not comfortable with it as she doesn't trust her mother to always close the pool gate. She thinks maybe when they're older and can both swim but not right now.

Pools and babies make me super nervous. Could they come to your house instead?

@bluestriped bee: Well, I'd ask what her setup is and see what she says. In the house a grew up in the pool was fenced, and the fence was always locked. The only way from the house to the pool was through the screened in porch. The slider between the house and porch was generally always closed and locked, and the door from the porch to the outside had a high up lock, about eye level. And that generally stayed locked too. We never had any problems with anyone getting out to the pool that should't. I was 5 when we moved into that house, and my brother was born there.

Lots of pools in warm weather areas also have special pool fences that are made to withstand little kids trying to get into them. Like this - http://tinyurl.com/j6s2kjl. Maybe they've got something similar?

My mom has a pool and can't swim. I don't know if I would be okay with LO staying with her without me once he's mobile. She's goes out on her patio too much for me to be 100% sure the pool is inaccessible.

I would feel comfortable if my LO and the homeowner both knew how to swim and there were surefire safeguards to keep him safe.

The issue for me would be that this isn't the house where she raised her kids, and she may not be familiar with small children and water safety.

My kids stayed at my in-laws' lake house for 10 days while DH and I went to a wedding in Italy. There's direct access to the water, a dock, they were out in the boats a lot, etc. However, my MIL and FIL raised their three kids there in the summers - the girls had life vests on in the yard/beach area at all times, the house doors were kept locked, etc. My MIL actually did take both girls in the water alone; they wore life vests and she was very comfortable with it, so I was ok with it (it helps that she and FIL are both in medicine, so up to date with CPR and all). I think that she did a BETTER job watching my kids because she was in her own element (we live in NYC and she would have found all the walking, traffic, etc. tricky...so I understand the desire to have the kids go to MIL's house.

Long story short: In your case, I think that I'd be more comfortable having MIL come to you.

My parents have a pool and they decided to get a net that goes over the pool for safety reasons. http://www.allsafepool.com/pool-nets/ The other option was a pool fence. They also had an alarm installed that beeps when the sliding glass door opens. They also got a lock that goes to the top of the slider.

My 2 year old LOVES the water and he can unlock and open the slider. He can also unlock the front door and we've caught him out in the front yard. As cautious as parents/grandparents are, kids are curious and personally I would take all applicable measures to prevent an accident.

PS I'm generally a super low-key person who thinks most things are over-hyped but I've heard way too many stories about kids accidentally drowning. And I'm a former lifeguard so I've seen how quickly thing can go from curious/play to distress.

I would be fine with this scenario, but I also know my parents & in-laws pool setups and they are knowledgeable about pool safety. (Like, they'd never leave the gate open or unlocked).

But I'd be more anxious about my kids in a new environment without their parents for 2 weeks. I think having her come to your house would be preferable because they'd have familiar surroundings while you're gone.

@gingerbebe: I love that you said that about inflatable pools. I just bought one and my husband went to fill it up. I was like WHAT are you doing! Don't put water in that! He thought I was crazy.

Water terrifies me. I don't think I would be comfortable. Can they stay at your house? Our house is on a river and I don't let anyone take DD in the backyard besides my husband or I. It's way out of my comfort zone and I don't care if people think I'm a little crazy