Drowning?? Arts of animation

[Kalliope]

We haven't used the pools since the installation of the gates - do they automatically close behind you? Do we know if this happened in the main pool; perhaps the child was found in a quiet pool? From what I understand, not all quiet pools have gates.

If it was the Big Blue Pool, it is gated. So is the Little Mermaid pool. I don't know about the other pool at AoA.

 

[Aurora0427]

It said in one of the articles that the child was separated from the parents at the resort. It kind of sounds like he wandered off and found his way to the pool. We won't know until they release more info, IF they release more info. I am sure it was crowded at the resort and the pool area. Kids can wander off in a second. How many of us have lost track of our kids at the store? It is terrifying even if it is just for a few seconds. I just can't stop thinking about those poor parents.

This is what I thought may have happened initially. Parents are fumbling around trying to find magic bands, another child is crying, too much going on and the three year old takes off and jumps in the pool. This happened to a friend of mine. Her two year old has no fear and just jumped in the water. Taught her a big lesson. She was lucky.

It's horrible. These parents will blame themselves for the rest of their lives and there's no need for us to place blame. My heart breaks for them.

 

[CinderElsa]

We haven't used the pools since the installation of the gates - do they automatically close behind you? Do we know if this happened in the main pool; perhaps the child was found in a quiet pool? From what I understand, not all quiet pools have gates.

They do not - they often close so slowly that other guests are able to follow you into the pool area without using their bands. IMO, it's a huge problem.

 

[mousefan73]

Cant stop thinking about this. Maybe cause as a family with kids we'll be there end if Aug. besides the family we need to pray for the lifeguards. Most are young college kids. This is a heavy load to carry a lifetime.

 

[Tash87]

Soo unbelievably sad. Thoughts are with his family and friends. I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through right now.

 

[pmaurer74]

I feel so bad for the family! What a tragedy. I am always paranoid about pools. Last summer we were on a family vacation and there was a pool right outside the door of the home. I told everyone to make sure that they locked the door or to watch for my dd to make sure she did not go out the door and into the pool because she cannot swim yet. On our last day, someone walked out the door and dd followed her without them knowing... we just happened to see her outside... my heart dropped that could have ended badly.

 

[Veggie]

I just witnessed my own child almost drown today at swim lessons surrounded by swim teachers and inattentive lifeguards. It was so scary because I could not get to her fast enough. Another child rescued her in time but everyone was shaken by the experience. It only takes a moment...

Prayers are with everyone involved. How sad!

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Wow... your camp SOP sounds scary. I know it wouldn't have fixed all the issues like kids not listening but first thing to change... All lifeguards would have had to be in place before the first kid got off the bus at the beach.

The camp I worked at had the following policies:
On day one everyone took a swim test. One on one with a lifeguard. Then you got a swim cap.
If you were a great swimmer you got yellow.
If you were a pretty good swimmer and could tread water for 5 min, could swim the length of the swim area without stopping and a few other things, you got blue.
If you were anywhere from basically can keep your head above water to anything below the blue criteria you got white.
If you were a beginner swimmer you got red.

The only way to get to the pier was at the far end of the beach. The beach you couldn't even step onto until the lifeguards were present. You could still get a runner but it was harder (and disobeying this rule was one of the few in camp that could actually make you lose swim privileges.)

All kids had to wear their can whenever near the water. That way we knew where each kid could go (reds stayed in less then 3 feet of water, whites had a pier they could use but couldn't dive as the water was only like 5 feet deep, etc.

All kids had to have a buddy to go into the water. When you went towards the water you had to each bring a shoe and put one shoe each in a row for your cap color. You had to stay with your buddy and were responsible for doing a safety watch with your buddy.

Every so often a buddy check was called. You should be within seconds of holding your buddy's hand at any time. they would then count pairs and make sure it matched the number of shoes.

Other benefit of the caps is they didn't come off easily and if a kid ever did go under (we all did drills of what would happen if that count came up short. Never had to do a real one though thank goodness) the caps were all very bright so you could see them easier in the the slightly murky lake.

It wasn't scary at all, and I don't see anything wrong with it, other than color coding caps, we did it exactly the way you did. It wasn't as if they were standing on the beach.we were in the parking lot, a fair distance from the water, with a gate between us and it. We didn't enter the enclosure until the lifeguards were out. There was a roped off area not over ANY of our kids heads they had to stay in, unless they had swim tested. These kids ignored all of this and just took off, and made it through the gate, which the facility was supposed to keep locked. It ovviously wasn't this day. We had a good system in place, and this is the only time I have ever known of it failing. No need to be so judgmental. No matter WHAT supposedly foolproof system you use, accidents can ad do happen.

 

[DisneyFive]

Cant stop thinking about this. Maybe cause as a family with kids we'll be there end if Aug. besides the family we need to pray for the lifeguards. Most are young college kids. This is a heavy load to carry a lifetime.

First thing I thought last night, before we knew the outcome, was if it was late enough for lifeguards to already be off duty. Anyone know? Maybe it's been mentioned already. Most of the time at WDW we are swimming in pools with no life guard. By the time we get back from closing the parks, they are gone. ...and we've swam a lot at the quiet pools.

Like others, it's hard to stop thinking about this tragic event. So sad. My prayers to the family and those involved.

Dan

 

[limabeanmom2003]

First thing I thought last night, before we knew the outcome, was if it was late enough for lifeguards to already be off duty. Anyone know? Maybe it's been mentioned already. Most of the time at WDW we are swimming in pools with no life guard. By the time we get back from closing the parks, they are gone. ...and we've swam a lot at the quiet pools.

Like others, it's hard to stop thinking about this tragic event. So sad. My prayers to the family and those involved.

Dan

It's my understanding that disney now has lifeguards at all their pools during operating hours and pools are locked outside of operating hours. Based on the time of the tragedy, the pool should have been open and guards on duty.

 

[cckp72]

This is a horrible, tragic story. My heart aches for the boy, his family and everyone involved. RIP, little one.

 

[goofy4tink]

There but for the grace of God go I....as the saying goes. Bad parenting? Parents just not paying attention? Who knows. What I do know is how fast something can happen, without you ever knowing. Back when my now 37 y/o dd was about 3, she had been put down for her afternoon nap. She had been asleep for about 15 mins and I started to vac my bedroom. I closed my door so as to not disturb her. I finished and went back downstairs. My dd's bedroom door was still shut. Well, I went into the bathroom and looked out the window....only to see my dd's clothes on the swing outside the bathroom area!!!! I freaked out, as you can imagine. I ran upstairs, opened her door, and she was gone from her crib!!!! I ran outside..no where to be seen!!! Now, my street was very short and not well traveled, at least not during the day. But, just two houses away was a very busy street...a major throughway for getting to the center of town. As I headed down the driveway, a police cruiser pulled up. Out got the officer, with my dd in tow. Thank God he lived across the street and realized where she belonged. Seems she had been walking down the center of that busy street, with our family dog beside her...protecting her!!! As the officer approached her, the dog growled at him...poor guy. But, he scooped her up and brought her home. The truly awful thing, that doesn't bear thinking about? He had just stopped a speeder right up the street!! This child proved to be a Houdini...she escaped her play pen and crawled into a lake when she wasn't a year old. She left my mother's house, and went in search of the other kids she had heard playing two yards over...she was 18 months old. We finally started changing locks on doors so that she couldn't get out of houses!!!!
Some kids are just explorers....and most, thankfully, make it out of childhood!!! This poor family probably had an 'explorer'...one who took the chance, when no one was looking, to go off and investigate. That big pool is incredibly bright and loud...just what a young child would want to check out. The pools are open later in the day, into the evening, and lifeguards are on duty. But, especially with that pool, I can see how a child could slip into the water and go unnoticed. Who knows. I doubt that the family had let the toddler go off, in the pool area, unsupervised. The child escaped their watch....I completely understand how quickly something like that can happen. And....even if a parent was only 10' away, when they saw their child wander off, that child could be in 3' of water in seconds...and then take in more than enough water to drown.
Incredibly sad for all concerned. I can't imagine the pain they are feeling. I don't think it serves any purpose to try and lay blame on 'bad parenting' until all the facts are known. And yes, I 'get' that if we can lay the blame somewhere, we can think that it wouldn't happen to us. But, in all reality? Really truly awful things happen to very nice, responsible people...every single day.

To the poster who lives in the town where those two teenagers died in the drivers ed car....I'm so very sorry. I saw that on the news and was truly horrified. I can't imagine how anyone involved in that feels....from the truck driver, to the driver's ed teacher, to the young person driving the car. It would seem to be a true accident, exacerbated by lack of experience on the part of the young woman driving. I can't imagine how she must feel!!! So very sad!!!

 

[North of Mouse]

So sorry for another tragedy - brings to mind the little boy who nearly drowned on a Disney cruise - the family turned their minds away from him and were applying sunscreen on two older siblings. He got away and they didn't even miss him until he was brought up out of the pool nearly lifeless. Today, almost 2 1/2 yrs later he is barely responsive and still in rehab. So very sad. Disney settled with them even though they were 100% responsible.

We raised three, and you never, ever turn your backs on them in public, especially near water - we've seen it all.

 

[anniemae]

So sorry for another tragedy - brings to mind the little boy who nearly drowned on a Disney cruise - the family turned their minds away from him and were applying sunscreen on two older siblings. He got away and they didn't even miss him until he was brought up out of the pool nearly lifeless. Today, almost 2 1/2 yrs later he is barely responsive and still in rehab. So very sad. Disney settled with them even though they were 100% responsible.

We raised three, and you never, ever turn your backs on them in public, especially near water - we've seen it all.

I just remembered that incident earlier today and was wondering how this boy was doing. If I recall, they had a Facebook page with updates on his condition.

 

[CinderElsa]

I just remembered that incident earlier today and was wondering how this boy was doing. If I recall, they had a Facebook page with updates on his condition.

They still do: https://www.facebook.com/ChaseLykken

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Chase is a real fighter......he seems to be slowly improving!

 

[krennaker]

This is just devastating. Truly heartbreaking. I will be praying for the parents, and all those involved.

 

[Mrsktbrown]

I keep reading this is a parent's worst nightmare, and it is most definitely mine. We plan these trips and work so hard to make everything go perfectly for our families. To lose a child any time would be unimaginable, but to compound that loss with what should have been a trip of a lifetime...

My deepest sympathies go to the family. I hope and pray the family, medics, lifeguards, and bystanders can be gentle with themselves and process this profound loss with the love and care they deserve.

 

[slford00]

I'm a pediatrician, and during my residency training doing rotations in the ER, ICU, etc., I encountered a lot of messed up things that happened to little kids, including drownings. There were preventable accidents as well as non-preventable accidents (and of course the absolute worst--intentional harm). Stuff that I still think about and cluelessly wonder "Why?"

I don't know if I was bothered more by accidents that occurred as a result of "stupid" childhood things that we all did (or at least I did) when we were young, such as doing flips on trampolines, diving into the shallow end of a pool, and having competitions to see who can hold his/her breath the longest or swim the furthest underwater, or if I was bothered more by absolute freak occurrences like a 3 year old choking on chewing gum and ending up brain dead.




One night in the ICU I took care of a 3 year old who had been playing in his front yard under the supervision of his grandmother. She went inside to use the bathroom, and in fewer than 1-2 minutes he rode his little Flintstone-styled foot-powered toddler car from the front yard to the back, and directly into their swimming pool. This accident was entirely preventable, and unquestionably the result of a lapse in judgment by the guardian. But frankly, after pronouncing that child dead in the wee hours of the morning--with the grandmother present--and witnessing what I witnessed, I have no desire or need to assign any blame to her. Trust me, she's doing enough of that to herself.


I still think about that little toddler a lot more often than I'd like to.


I hope and pray for peace not only for the boy's family (though they'll never find any), but as previous posters have mentioned, for the lifeguards, first responders, and hospital staff who cared for him.

 

[SplashMom]

This is a horrible, terrible tragedy. My heart is breaking for all involved.

I have no idea what circumstances existed or how this happened, however, maybe I can share some observations. On our last few trips, the most recent in March, my family members and I have noticed the huge number of people on their phones while sitting on the edge of the pool monitoring children. In March, we witnessed lifeguards rescuing two children in one afternoon, both parents were close but were using their phones. One parent quickly reacted when the lifeguard jumped in, the other didn't seem to notice until the child was brought to her. She didn't put the phone away. We were stunned...these children were quite young. We talk about texting and driving, but it involves much more. Please pay attention to your life.

Again, I'm not in any way saying that this contributed in this situation but it can serve as a wakeup call for some. Prayers to the family and all involved.