What All Parents Should Know About Drowning
1 in 5 children are drowning because of lack of attention from adults. Drowning is also the leading cause of unexpected injury-related death among children ages 1-4. And this is an on-going dilemma which can easily be prevented.
With the beautiful summer season in high gear, families and friends are gathering around their pools, heading out to the beach and other areas with water. With the help of our community, parents and guardians, we can attempt to decrease these rates with efforts made towards educating each other about water safety and drowning prevention techniques.
So how do parents and guardians avert the unfathomable from happening?
Understanding the Risks
Parents and guardians need to recognize that drowning is a risk to their kids. Just because your child may know how to swim it doesn’t mean that they are drown-proof. Falling unexpectedly into water can often lead to panic situations where your mind doesn’t necessarily focus on the things you were taught and just focuses on one thing; survival.
A misguided judgment about drowning is that it’s noisy, dynamic and noticeable. As a general rule, it’s quick and silent and takes approximately 30 to 60 seconds. The body goes into a shock phase and all the efforts and energy is gone towards keeping the head above water. You won’t necessarily see a great deal of waving and calling for assistance. Normally, an individual who is drowning will be completely under the water trying to weave through it.
Blocking Access to Outside
Refrain young children from having access to go outside unsupervised. You can purchase safety door gates, out of reach locks and make sure that all doors leading outside are closed. You can also make sure to fence pools and spas with barriers, including four-sided fencing. Lastly, ensure that friends, relatives or guests are aware and close the door behind them so that your child won’t follow them to go outside when someone leaves.
Staying Within Arm’s Length
It is recommended that you should stay within arm’s length with your child. Since young children tend to be curious and are mobile, it is crucial to implement this “constant touch supervision” method as an additional safety measure.
Also consider get togethers with friends and family or a large party at locations featuring a pool or a lake. It’s a good idea to assign someone to supervise the kids who might potentially go near the water. Create a schedule for the adults and take turns! If you’re not within arms’ reach, you’ve gone too far!
Life jackets Are Your Best Friend
It is crucial to use life jackets near lakes and rivers whether your child knows how to swim or not. It is important to make sure that the lifejackets fit correctly! Lifejackets don’t work if you don’t wear them properly. To learn more about choosing the right life jacket and the benefits of wearing one click here! Before you venture out on the water this summer, outfit yourself, family, and friends in proper fitting life jackets. Even shallow water can provide a dangerous situation.
Be Ready to Act
In case you ever encounter a water emergency situation where someone is in trouble, it is crucial that parents, guardians, older children should know how to perform CPR. CPR coupled with rescue techniques can help save a life, not only yours but someone else’s too. Our staff at Making Waves all get their Standard First Aid with CPR-C through the Lifesaving Society. This course runs with Bronze Cross at Making Waves. We also run these courses every session (Brampton, Milton & Mississauga). It’s a requirement to have a Standard First Aid with CPR-C for all staff – including Customer Service Representatives in order to work at Making Waves. Parents can enroll for these classes too and get well equipped with rescue techniques! Click here to learn more!
Being a parent may sometimes be a laborious job and may be difficult, but life can take an unexpected turn at any moment.
Water safety awareness and the ability to swim are such important lifelong skills to have. The ability to know what to do if you fell into water could be potentially lifesaving. It doesn’t matter how fast you can swim or knowing every stroke perfectly, it’s about being safe around water and knowing how to successfully get yourself or someone you know to safety.
Share these tips to keep these key drowning prevention messages top of mind this Summer!