On pretty days, beaches can be a haven for family fun. But if you want the pictures from your day in the sun and sand with your toddler to be filled with smiles and good memories, you'll need to heed the motto of the Boy Scouts: Be prepared.

Whether on the sand or in the water, the first priority when taking toddlers to the beach needs to be safety. "Make it someone's job to watch the children AT ALL TIMES!" says Tom Gill, public information chairman for the United States Lifesaving Association and Captain of the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service in Virginia Beach, Va. "Take shifts if need be because it is tough to watch them every minute for long periods. Lost children are one of the main distractions for lifeguards at busy beaches every year. Our service averages over 750 every summer. Children can be lost in seconds in large crowds, and then the lifeguards must deal with frantic parents when they should be watching the water."

When in, on or around the water, the American Red Cross recommends practicing "reach supervision," meaning that children should be within an arm's length reach of the supervising adult. Also, while swim vests or other floatation devices can help young children feel more confident in the water and can provide some measure of safety, parents should not rely solely on them.

"No floatation device is a substitute for direct parental supervision in the water at all times," Gill says. "Flotation devices cannot help much when a wave knocks down a little one along the shoreline or picks him up and hurls him into the shore."

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