9 Ways to Protect Children from Drowning
What every parent should know about water safety
Everyone thinks it won't happen to them. Unfortunately, drowning can happen to anyone. Keep your children safe around water with these nine tips to prevent drowning.
1. Get in the water. Be in arms reach of your child. Don't let your child out of your sight and be there to grab your children out of the water at any sign of trouble.
2. 100 percent adult supervision at all times. Be active in the pool with the children or watch like a lifeguard. Don't take your eyes off of your child. If you aren't in the water, be sure to watch your kids at all times. Don't spend time on your smartphone, talking to friends or walking away for even a moment. Do have a phone nearby in case of an emergency. But that's the only time anyone should be using one.
3. Watch them until they are safe and inside. Monitoring your kids includes accounting for everyone who had been in the water all the way to the house or apartment. Once you are inside, count again and make sure all the kids are safe and inside.
4. Be a water watcher. If you are at a party with a group of children, take 15-minute shifts watching the kids. Count heads above water and look for any that are motionless on the bottom of the pool. Give your undivided while you are the water watcher. Stay sober and be alert. You can't have a more important responsibility.
5. Life jackets. Not just any flotation device will do. Make sure your life jacket is U.S. Coast Guard approved. Check the tag to say so.
6. Swim lessons. Mom and dad, you need to know how to swim. If you don't know, take lessons with your child. Make sure your child knows how to swim too. If they are in the pool, they need to know how to get to safety. But this is only a layer of protection and doesn't take away from the fact that you need to be in arm's reach.
7. Know CPR. Local CPR lessons are given in your area. A quick Google search should help you find a class.
8. Use pool and child alarms to alert you if your child gets in the water without you.
9. Isolate your pool from the rest of your backyard with a permanent, four-sided fence with self-latching gates to prevent kids from accessing the pool area without an adult.
