Your children are likely only a few days away from finishing school for the year, and with summer vacation comes trips to the local pool or water park. Swimming at the beach or at a friend’s pool can be a great way to stay cool during the warm summer months, but these peaceful places can turn tragic if children are left unsupervised.
Accidental drowning is often a preventable tragedy that claims the lives of over 750 children each year. In fact, accidental drowning is the second leading cause of death among children 15 years old and under, second only to traffic fatalities. What’s more, a parent or guardian will be within 25 yards of the victim 50 percent of the time. An adult will actually watch the child drown 10 percent of the time, because they didn’t realize the child was in danger. In hopes of keeping you and your family safe this summer, we’ve outlined five tips to help prevent accidental drownings.
1. Listen for silence – You won’t hear a drowning victim call out for help. People experiencing aquatic distress may call out for help, but a person who is drowning won’t be able to yell. If you have a pool in your backyard, you might be accustomed to the sound of children laughing and splashing, so it’s the silence that should give you cause for concern.
2. Forget what you saw on TV – Drownings in real life are much different than how they are portrayed on the big screen. Many people assume a drowning person will fail their arms and scream for help, but that’s not the case. Speech is a secondary action to breathing. Your body’s natural response is going to be to work towards breathing, not calling out for help or waving your arms.
3. Pay attention – A day at the beach is supposed to be relaxing for everyone involved, but just because there are other people around doesn’t mean you should take a nap and trust that your kids are safe. ALWAYS make sure someone is keeping an eye on your children. If there’s no lifeguard on duty, put the book down until they are out of the water. If there is a lifeguard, it can’t hurt to politely ask them to keep an eye on your children. A lifeguard is responsible for everyone in the water, but your reminder will stay in his or her mind while they survey their area.
4. Know what drowning looks like – As we’ve noted, drowning is a quiet event. A drowning person appears to bob just above and below the surface of the water. A person’s mouth may even appear above the water, but it won’t be long enough to inhale, exhale, or call out for help. Naturally, a drowning person will extend their arms parallel to the water as the body attempts to leverage itself out of the water. The legs will not kick, and oftentimes the body will appear upright. If your child has long hair, another indictor they may be in trouble is if their hair is covering their eyes.
5. Learn CPR – Similar to the Heimlich maneuver or using a fire extinguisher, CPR is a skill you hope you never have to use, but you’re glad you are prepared if a situation arises. There are numerous classes in and around the Twin Cities that can train you in the art of CPR.
Dr. Silverman comments
This article is an excellent reminder with summer on the horizon. These are some great points of advice for any adults tasked with keeping children safe in the water. In my experience, tip #1 is the most important. When I watch my kids in the pool, it’s the lack of noise that grabs my attention.
As a previous beach lifeguard, no one drowned on my watch. Moreover, no one needed to be saved on my area of watch during two summers when I worked as a lifeguard for the Chicago Park District. This comes as no accident.
I was trained to recognize the actual signs of drowning, which are much different from the movies. In the real world, the drowning victim goes down without a sound. Our rules as lifeguards were clear; “EYES ON THE WATER AT ALL TIMES.” This resulted in 99.9% shear boredom, and 0.1% terror.
However, the alert guard isn’t simply looking for the drowning victim, they are managing the water to prevent people from getting themselves into drowning situations. Limiting people to certain areas of the pool and keeping a running count of those in and out are possible on less busy days. Other days, when the water is teeming with crowds, its much more difficult. Repetitive scanning, looking for that one-in-a-thousand event is constant task.
Just remember, the next time a guard whistles at you and waves for you to swim in; it’s not you he is judging, it’s not a power trip that she is on; It’s that they need to manage an area of water and can’t watch the whole lake or ocean.
Related source: Slate.com
