Child Drowns at Art of Animation

[kamik86]

Teaching children is the key. My daughter almost drowned in a 2 foot deep kiddie pool in the Dominican republic when she was 2 years old. I was sitting at the edge of that pool when she slipped and fell face first and did not know how to swim. Please get you and your children swimming lessons if you or your child does not know how to swim. May God bless the child and his parents.

However after you follow the good advice of this poster still remember that even great swimmers can get in trouble.

The camp I worked at only had one child have to be rescued during swim time. She was one of the best swimmers in camp, but that didn't help when she had an asthma attack in water that was too deep for her to stand in.

 

[rteetz]

If you only knew how easy it is for a toddler/preschooler to "escape" your attention... Maybe they were near the pool, but maybe they weren't and the child just ran off.

As the oldest child of six and having four boys of my own, it happens. All it takes is two parents being distracted (think, parents have all their gear - "I can't get my MB to work. Try yours." Their attention gets focused on trying to open the door and juggle their stuff and next thing you know the child has wandered off). Or one parent thinks the child is with the other. Or any other number of scenarios.

Regardless, it is so very tragic and sad, and those poor parents will have to live with this the rest of their lives.

It's funny I do. My mother watches toddlers for a living and I have two little sisters.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

What a tragedy. Prayers for the family.

I have 3 kids, and 2 of them are "runners". Meaning that they get so excited about things they just take off. On several trips we've had to use those kid harnesses (i.e. a leash) because the alternative was losing our kids in a crowd. With some kids, it's just really hard to keep them from running off. I feel for this family.

 

[Carrie Gruber]

http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...o_know_when_someone_is_in_trouble_in_the.html

"In 10 percent of drownings, adults are nearby but have no idea the victim is dying. It can take as little as 20 seconds. Here’s what to look for."

Thank you for sharing this article. I know most people think that drowning victims are the flailing, screaming type. One child I took out of the water was my 2 yr old cousin and when she fell in, her immediate reaction was to spread her arms out and lie completely still, but her face was in the water, she didn't know what to do and thankfully I was sitting at the edge not far away and got to her in time. The second child was at a public pool and he was about 5, and I noticed him kind of bobbing in the water and his face looked petrified so I knew something was wrong and swam over to hold him up. It's those types of situations that may go unnoticed when lots of people are in/around a pool. Lifeguards help but they can't watch everybody at all times, and if we all learn how to recognize and prevent drowning, hopefully these types of incidents will not repeat themselves. Again, thank you for sharing the article, it has great info that I hope everyone following this thread will read.

 

[Jess_S]

I rescued my sister from drowning when we were teenagers and it actually did look a lot like the posted article described. I'm not sure how I even knew she needed to be pulled out of the water, but something about her silence seemed eerie to me. In any event, I'm not a person who believes good comes of everything, but this incident did remind me of the need to get my son swim lessons and refresh myself on spotting signs of trouble in the water.

 

[umichigan10]

This is such an awful story and I pray those parents can have strength in this awful time

I don't know the circumstances around the incident but I can certainly see why Disney has been not allowing free swimming without lifeguards (or so I thought I heard). Its because of the risk of something tragic like this happening

 

[ForMyBoys]

http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...o_know_when_someone_is_in_trouble_in_the.html

"In 10 percent of drownings, adults are nearby but have no idea the victim is dying. It can take as little as 20 seconds. Here’s what to look for."

Thanks for posting this! Very helpful information.

 

[tcherjen]

I feel so bad for the family. I can not imagine going through that.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Please, before posting negative comments about the parents read my previous posts or watch this video.

*warning somewhat graphic content* this shows a boy who has got into trouble and actually showing the instinctive drowning response. They are saved by a lifeguard in this video. Look how close the other swimmers are, some are even facing his direction. None of them notice what is happening it's so subtle. 20-30 seconds longer this boy would have drowned.

It's hard enough for this family to deal with their loss, they don't need people making remarks or second guessing their actions.

 

[henry lutz]

Thank you for this link. There are clues in it that I didn't know to look for.

Thank you for info....god bless the family

 

[marinejjh]

I know from being in public safety that the ratio is 1 guard to 15 kids, I am sure that there was way more people in the pool for that ratio. I know this to be true for the ymca pools. A few posts back someone said there were 3 guards walking and 1 sitting. I am sure there were more than 60 people in the pool. Was Disney neglect? I am sure disney will change there pool policy over this. Poor family.

 

[SueM in MN]

The points made by many of us are not blame but prevention. People just aren't careful and watchful enough around pools! My daughter was never out of arm's length when around a pool up to age 6. She was the direct focus of my attention or my wife's at all times. Strict safety rules and active supervision was maintained until age 13. At age 14 I judged her capable to be out my sight and to take responsibility for her own safety with strong rules such swim with a partner, with adult nearby, no rough housing and move away from others who are.

I recently saw an excellent GIF clip that included a near drowning. It showed 2 seconds of the event in a large crowded wave pool... to see if you could spot the person in trouble by the same time the lifeguard did. I have lifeguard training and I had to watch the 2 second clip 3 times before I knew who it was. An average adult would never see it. In that case, a weak swimmer was using a float tube and was knocked off it. It reminded me of every minute I have ever spent in WDW water parks!

Here's the little short one I think you might have seen:

Here's one of the videos that has gotten shown a lot lately:

And another one - this child with within arm's reach of a couple of people, but no one noticed. It doesn't look like in the movies.

What they all have in common is that it was crowded, there were lots of people close by, but no one realized a child near them was drowning.

 

[remyrat]

Poor baby This is such a sad story

 

[EvieBug]

Thank you for the posts sharing what to look for and the videos of rescues. I am incredibly paranoid when my kids are near water and knowing what to be looking for is so eye opening. I helicopter like crazy near water but it just takes a single minute.

So very sorry for that family. Heartbreaking.

 

[Suger Mag]

I think these kinds of tragic accidents are so frightening because they are so random and can really happen to anyone; so people desperately look to find something or someone to blame because then it makes it seem it would NEVER happen to them. As a parent of two (now young adults) I acknowledge how humbling parenting can be, of course you want to never make ANY mistakes, but reality is different. Good people make mistakes, for the majority them, mistakes mean very little or maybe a funny story... but for others like this family they can mean tragedy. How sad, what should have been a vacation full of happy memories will always be associated with sadness. My condolences to the family.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

That's what happened to my husband and I. He thought I had my son, I thought he had him and just like that we lost him at Typhoon Lagoon and my immediate thought was that he was headed back to the wave pool. Thankfully a CM found him within minutes, but I near about had a heart attack thinking of the "what ifs". I'm heartbroken for this family, I cannot imagine the pain they are in right now.

i saved a toddler from the Typhoon wave pool. He entered with other big kids, which i figured were his siblings. I didn't believe that kid had any business going into the pool, so i watched. Then the bigger kids branched off and the little 2 year old kept going into the wave pool. I went towards him to grab him but he had already went under the water 2 times and almost 3 but i snatched him. His mom came running as i pulled him out. No CM's noticed or came to help at any point. My regret is not running to get him sooner. In college, i was studying to be a teacher, and they drill you about how to never touch someone's kid, so that made me hesitate until i knew the kid was in danger.

Where were the lifeguards?? Disney should always have someone on staff.. i think they can afford it in their budget and it could have saved him. If they did have one, they obviously need more, like how about someone is always in the middle area, the lifeguards could take turns.

 

[rteetz]

No, I quite strongly disagree. I believe the best couse of action is you mind your own business and don't speculate. It's insensitive to the family because as you say, no one knows the details. So posting "why would someone leave a 3 yr old unattended" is misleading.

The polite thing to do is to offer condolences and not spread misleading information.

Again I understand. We will never know details most likely all we can do is pray and be sad for the family. But with that said we can also question what might have happened. I am not like others and placing blame on the parents either.

 

[Siberian13]

I stayed at Arts of Animation in May of this year, and I remember an incident while I was in that very same pool. And now that this has happened, that incident is haunting me even more.

It was mid-day, crowded, and quite loud and chaotic as you might imagine. At one point I was in the water watching my own kids and suddenly I hear a loud splash behind me which I immediately recognized as an adult size splash. I glance over my shoulder behind me and see that a life guard dove in and rescued a young girl (couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 years old), who was struggling in the water. She pulled her to safety and helped her up onto the deck... then this girl just ran off. This all happened within like 20 feet of where I was standing. With all the chaos and children laughing, screaming, playing, splashing, etc... you would have no idea that child was in trouble unless you were looking right at her. Unfortunately I had my back to the situation as I was watching my own kids. What struck me as disturbing and infuriating as this incident unfolded... "WHERE IN THE FLYING (BLEEP) ARE THIS KID'S PARENTS?!?!?!?" Clearly they were nowhere nearby. I glanced over at the life guard and I could tell by the look on her face that she wondering the same thing.

 

[BagOLaughs]

ut with that said we can also question what might have happened.

That is a fair enough point to make. However the reason I've pulled out your post is because if the way you worded it. I think its misleading if you use a statement such as "why was the child left alone" = assumption. Rather than, "I wonder if the child was left alone." = question

But in either case I personally wouldn't question it because I don't have the full details. Its a horrible tragedy.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

These poor people. It can happen to anyone. Once, when my son was 18 months, we were at a pool waiting to get in. I thought he was with my husband in the changing room (right next to the line) and he thought he was with me in line. Luckily they hadn't opened the gate yet and he wandered back to where I was, but man did I get some hate stares from the other parents who presumed I was just being negligent. Dispersal of responsibility, especially if you have more than one kid to keep track of, can be a real danger. I know of a family whose 3 year old son died this spring because the mom was nursing the baby and thought dad had the boy. It was at a private home pool party filled with DOCTORS. None of the adults saw it, another kid saw the boy at the bottom of the pool.

Another time we were in a relatively small indoor pool with myself, my husband and our son, two lifeguards on one side of the pool, and another dad and his two daughters at the other end. A third dad came in with his two year old and left him sitting on the edge of the pool while he turned his back to get his goggles. The kid slipped in silently and NONE of the adults in the pool noticed. It was the manager who was coming in who saw it and screamed, and the dad with the girls reached over and got him. It happened in an instant. Kids are quick, and they can be overconfident even if they have swim experience. Even when my son is in swim class (3 kids to adult teacher) I keep an eye on him. You never know.