Children And Water Safety. Areyou Doing Enough?

Children and Water Safety.
Are you doing enough?


Recently I while reading the daily news I came across two different stories relating to children drowning in swimming pools. In this case 2 children drowned in separate incidents within a few days of each other in the same area. I can not imagine the feeling of the loss and the grief felt by those close to the children involved. How tragic the loss.

I was interested enough to do some research and found some, in my opinion, extraordinary statistics regarding drowning deaths of young children and infants.

Research shows that drowning was the second leading cause of injury related death in children in the 1 14 age group. Safe Kids USA reports that 859 children 14 and under died as a result of unintentional drowning and in 2002 an estimated 2,700 children in the same age group were treated as near drowning victims.

Statistics seem to vary depending on the reporting agency. If a child does not die within the first 24 hours of the event the death may or may not be reported as a drowning. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that non fatal submersions delivered to the Emergency Room at a hospital with a prognosis being, poor fifty percent or more will suffer significant neuralgic impairment.

Personally as a parent with two, now grown children, my biggest fears were water first and automobile accidents later. I had my children swimming early so I could at least have some confidence in their ability and skills to take control if and when necessary. No guarantee but at least they had the tools.

I have pulled two children out of pools that were in big trouble when adults and kids were present.

The first time I had stopped buy to see some friends that were having a birthday for their young son. Kids were laughing, playing Marco Polo and splashing and doing what a bunch of young boys do. I noticed that in the middle of this melee one kid was thrashing and splashing but out of desperation not fun. He was sinking, struggling and coming back up to the top. No one really noticed because of all the activity going on around him. I jumped in with my clothes, grabbed him and brought him to the edge of the pool and to his now screaming mother. He was coughing and spitting but not a serious as it might have been. This was during the day, adults present and about 5-6 feet of water.

Another incident involved a group of adults and our kids socializing and an early evening dinner. I was the designated chef for the evening and we were all outside around the guest's pool. Most of the meal was finished and everyone went in as I finished off a few more pieces on the grill. My back was to the pool and the sun was just going down and I heard a faint splash behind me. I turned around and saw my namesake, Michael lying at the bottom of the pool looking up and he was wearing an old life vest. The life vest looked more like an anchor and he was just lying there. It was in about 3 feet of water. Again I walked in the pool picked him up threw him on my shoulder and took him out. There was very little time involved from the instant I heard the splash and the time it took to walk in and take him out but imagine, just imagine if I was not there. The old life vest had lost its buoyancy and was more like a sponge and enough to hold this poor little guy down in the pool.

I thank the universe, God, Buddha, whoever he or she may be that I was at these two places at the right time. It is possible that these two great kids could have been statistics rather than being scared and frightened by the experience and are successful grown men they are today.

Lessons learned. Pools, spas, beaches, rivers, lakes, bathtubs, anything water and children demand extreme supervision. Working personal flotation devices, swimming pool alarms, personal child alarms, rigid pool covers, gates and fencing that codes require, and swimming lessons when mom and dad are ready are a few things to keep in mind when evaluating your water safety plan and children.

We need to protect our most precious assets and these are just a few ideas to keep them healthy and safe.