Mum Shares Scary Video Of Toddler Scaling A Pool Fence

An Adelaide mum has stepped forward with a short but powerful video showing why parents cannot take their eyes off kids for even a few seconds.

In the video, which Wendy Atkinson shared on Facebook, two-year-old Brodie Atkinson, still in his nappy, is a horrendous image of a toddler scaling a pool fence in just 21 seconds. The video, shared hundreds of thousands of times by concerned users, shows just how dangerous and flawed some fence designs are.

In speaking to News Corp, Ms Atkinson said she wanted to highlight to parents how important it was for children to have constant supervision, so that drownings could be prevented.

“The fact that my son is in a nappy really brings the issue home,” Ms Atkinson said to 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.”

In South Australia, according to Ms Atkinson, the standard height of a pool fence is 1.2m, but without a lock and child-safe latch, fences aren’t safety measures so much as they are deterrents.

The mum-of-four told press that the first time she spotted her son climbing the fence she “read him the riot act”, but realised after the tragically large number of drownings over the summer that other parents needed to see what he was capable of. Brodie’s feat shows just how fast things can get away from parents.

“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.”

Currently, the Atkinson family are renovating their house, and they were aware that their inward opening, non-springloaded gate did breach South Australian regulations. They intended to have a new fence put up before the pool went in, but Ms Atkinson has since decided against installing a pool until her son, and youngest child, was a confident swimmer.

Ms Atkinson isn’t the only one who thinks Brodie’s fence-climbing is something worth paying attention to. Stephen Leahy from the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter said that the footage was scary.

“This kid scales that fence with absolute ease,” Mr Leahy said.

“We have got vertical bars on fences and this kid it doesn’t bother him and he’s up like a shot.

“If you have a look at this video, there are pavers or bricks right next to that gate and the kid could have easily climbed up onto those and he hasn’t, he’s used the fence to do it.”

While it can be difficult to keep an eye on children for busy parents, it is so important to stay vigilant about where your child is, particularly if you’re in the vicinity of a body of water.

In the last 12 months in Australia, there has been a 30% increase in drowning deaths in children under 5.