During the summer months in Florida, children can enjoy their free time and water-related activities like swimming. Depending on where your child swims, whether it’s at summer camp, school, day care center, community center, a friend’s or neighbor’s house, you still need to think about the precautions regarding their safety in the water.
Although we want our kids to have fun splashing around and playing with friends in the summer air, these very same swimming pools can be the site of serious personal injury or death of a child due to drowning accidents.
Drowning is reported as the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and 4 years old. Approximately 1,000 children per year the United States drown. Another alarming statistic is that over 5,000 children suffer personal injuries each year as a result of near drowning related incidents.
How can drowning accidents become preventable?
Proper adult supervision during swim time is mandatory for the safety of children. When it comes to summer camps, day care centers, schools, and other child care providers, written rules and policies should be posted, distributed, and followed for all childcare personnel. In addition, personnel should be trained in CPR.
In addition, here are some safety measures that should always be kept in mind:
Pay Attention.
This is a simple safety measure but one that has been ignored to some extent mostly because of our technology. If you are assigned the responsibility of supervising pool grounds, this is definitely not the time to be searching the Internet or texting. The supervisor should be watching at all times children in or around the pool. A drowning can take place in the time span that you read or respond to a text. Put down the phone and tablet and keep the eyes focused on the pool and the children.
Swimming Education.
Children should be taught to swim at a very young age whenever possible. Essentially, children should also be taught to avoid pool and water areas unless there is adult supervision in place.
CPR Training.
Even with good supervision and safety measures in place, drowning or near drowning incident can take place. At those times, it is important to have people in place that can administer CPR. It could take some time for Fire Rescue or a trained individual to arrive on the scene. As such, CPR by a responsible adult or even a teen can save a life.
Remember, pool safety is vital to keeping our children safe. It is tragic to know that drown accidents happen too frequently in the US. As a responsible adult, it is your job to monitor kids by the water, know regulations and policies at day care centers and ultimately, be ready to save a life.
