According to a Safe Kids Worldwide study (in partnership with Johnson & Johnson), 37 percent of parents of children ages 5 to 14 report their children have never had swimming lessons. If your kids haven’t either, keep these four Water Safety Wisdoms in mind:
Supervision: Grown-ups should take turns serving as the designated “water watcher,” whose sole responsibility is to actively supervise children in or near the water (and not allow themselves to be distracted by eating, reading, talking to others, chatting on cell phones or napping). Active supervision dictates that the adult can always see and hear the child and stays close enough to intervene in an emergency.
Environment: Improve safety around residential pools and spas with the installation and proper use of four-sided isolation fencing, which could prevent an estimated 50 percent to 90 percent of residential pool drownings. Isolation fencing means the fence completely separates the pool area from the house and the rest of the property, so a child cannot walk directly out a back door to the pool.
Gear: Use properly fitting life vests in and around water, especially when boating, riding in personal watercraft and participating in water sports, to prevent an estimated 85 percent of boat-related drownings.
Education: Enroll children in swimming lessons with a certified instructor by the age of 8. Nearly three-quarters of drowning victims researched did not know how to swim.
“Childhood drownings are not inevitable; they are preventable,” says Dr. Martin Eichelberger, director of Emergency Trauma Services at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and CEO of the National SAFE KIDS Campaign. “These four Water Safety Wisdoms are critically important to the safety equation that will keep kids out of harm’s way.” CPP