"Drowning does not LOOK like drowning." Summer PSA article - chillling.

[Merryweather27]

Scary, but important, especially in this season of pools and waterparks!

http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

 

[DisMN]

Holy cow! Thankyou for posting this. I had NO IDEA!!!

 

[laurie31]

Excellent post!!

Children drown silently, in minutes, and can be in water less than 2 inches deep. Toddlers drown in toilets, mop buckets, and even puddles.

Don't miss the video someone linked to in the comments to the article. It shows a boy drowning and a adult swims by, literally within arm's reach, and is oblivious to what's going on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndbGvjqEweA

Always be vigilant around water!

 

[bumbershoot]

And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Oh, man, absolutely.

Last year, for the first day or so of a visit to my brother's (in San Diego, and he has a pool), I thought that water wings were adequate. DS was in the shallow end, having fun, I was in arm's reach. My brother was doing laps, and he was at the deep end, and we were talking. I turned to my brother, and DS got quiet. I turned around, and the water wings had allowed his arms to go above his head as he sunk down into the water, and the wings wouldn't allow his arms to change position. AUGH!

It was so so frightening, and yes, DS was silent. I took off the water wings, DS was touching some part of me (not just in touching distance) for the rest of the time in the pool that day, and next day we bought a Speedo flotation vest and threw the water wings away.


And DS has been in swim lessons since last September. Not that that will make him tragedy-proof, but it's a better situation than last summer!


Oh, and I just talked about those tall lifeguard chairs at the Y's pool with DS. He didn't know why they were so tall. I guess I instinctively knew it, because I explained that they are tall so the guards can see *down* into the water.

 

[laurie31]

I tell people that water wings are like Dumbo's feather. They can give the child confidence, but they don't actually DO anything!

I'm glad your story had a happy ending!

 

[Nomi]

I had heard about not being able to scream or make a sound while drowning, but I had always assumed that one would thrash around quite a lot while drowning. As scary as the article was, it is very good info to have in your arsenal of knowledge. Thank you for posting the link!

 

[Green Tea]

So true. I had to jump in and pull my child out of the pool. The life guard was right there and didn't have a clue.

 

[piglet too]

My son did not make a sound either. Thank God that he bumped into my husband, and not one of the other kids in the pool, they may have thought he was fooling around. DH was able to pull him out and start CPR, my son was revived before the paramedics arrived. It has been 4 years, and I can still see it all.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Thanks for this post.

 

[Darsa]

Yikes! Wow, that's good information to have, thank you for sharing!

I've passed that on to my workplace and family/friends.

 

[jodifla]

Wow! Great post. Thanks for sharing...I've never seen those details before.

We had DS in swimming lessons since he was 15 months old. They've paid off and he's a little fish now at 8, but I still constantly watch him in the water.

 

[almburr]

Im a lifeguad/pool mgr. and a mom to 5. Oldest DD15 is now a lifeguard. I have to remind my guards daily that a child will hardly make a noise when they drown. Last summer I was on my stand and a little girl was doing the doggie paddle in 5ft, she was not going anywhere(her eyes were locked on to mine),she was a distressed swimmer at that point, by the time I hopped in she had become a active drowning victim (no noise, mouth open, looked like she was doing jumping jacks in the water) I grabbed her and took her to the side.

This year one of my guards had to go after one kid on two diffrent days. Each time it was right under her stand. She jumps in takes him to the side, tell him to stay where he can touch. Grandmother just looks at us and him. Then goes back to her conversation.

Also I hate water wings, I think they are the worst thing invented. They give parents a false sense of security. All I see is how they keep the kids arms up but not thier heads.

Always watch you child, We lifeguards are there to watch all kids not just yours. We are not baby sitters, as many think we are.

It doesnt take much for a little kid to go under. Please watch your child.

 

[Subrbnmommy]

Thanks for the post. I hade no clue that drowning was quiet! I always thought that it was loud with lots of splashes!

I now know better!

 

[MerMom60_94]

Thank you for posting this. I have a pool and am very aware things can go wrong in a heartbeat. This article is a huge help in describing what to look for. I just shared it with my DH, his brothers and a bunch of my friends who have pools. Excellent article.

 

[Myothername]

My son, 20, has been a lifeguard for 5 years now. Up until this year he was lifeguard at the local Elks Lodge pool where parents watch their kids and never had to pull a kid out. This year he is at a local waterpark. It is very small, more of a swimming hole in a natural spring but with some slides. He works the large swimming area. He pulls kids out every day. It is scary for me but he is fine with it. Just keeps them on their toes. Last week they almost lost a kid. He was scanning the swimming areas and saw a little boy slip off of his innertube. He jumps in and pulls this one out but did not know that another kid had been on the tube as well and slipped in just before he saw the first kid. Fortunately another lifeguard saw the other kid and yelled to my son. The other kid popped up to the surface just about this time and he got them both out safely. Grandmother said she had told them not to go in over their head but you know kids. It does not help that the water is very murky and dark. You can't see the kids. But parents need to be vigilent and watch their kids.

As for the water wings, I am one of those parents who let my son, the 20 year old, use them when he was a baby. They were so tight on his arms and up to his armpits that I never had any fear. Also, he was a swimmer from the age of one. Now I never left him unattended but I did let him swim all over the pool by himself. He loved it. But you have to know that the wings are not going to slip off or down. I remember one vacation in particular when he was about 16 months old. He swam every day all over the pool with his wings on and loved the freedom. I sat in a chair reading and looked up every paragraph. The grandmothers at the pool had a fit but honestly if he had slipped under I am 1 second away. He has never gotten in any trouble in the water his whole life and is an excellent swimmer.

We did swimming lessons at the Y when he was 3 but they base their lessons on age not ability. He already knew how to blow bubbles, put his face in the water, etc. By this time he was jumping off the board by himself. He had private lessons when he was 4 just so he could learn the strokes and that was much better.

 

[mjkacmom]

Every single one of my kids has gone under like this, 4 of them at my parents' home, and once at the Y. Fortunately, they were always watched, and pulled out right away. I pulled out a boy at our pool club who just walked right down the steps and under. My children got mandatory swimming lessons starting at 3, year-round, until the age of 6 - 8. A mom brought her ds7 to my kids' pool party in a vest, because she said she never thought to get him swim lessons. Sometimes my kids didn't want them, but they had no choice.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

Thank you for sharing that info. I had no idea that drowning would look like that. Watching the video made my blood run cold, as my 13 year old DS is in Louisiana with his dad right now and I hate when things are "out of my control", so to speak.

 

[minniebeth]

Thank you for this article. I now allow my DD almost 13 to go to our local pool, a city pool located in our neighborhood for short periods of time with a friend. She is a stong swimmer and the lifeguards are great but not a guarantee for absolute safety. I printed the article out and made her read it.

 

[snapppyd]

OMG, my heart is pounding, that brought back a terrible memory. I almost drowned when I was around 11. I got into the deep end of the pool and really didn't know how to swim. I kept trying to find the bottom of the pool to push myself up. I couldn't reach the bottom. My head was under water and I was starting to inhale/swallow water. If my BIL hadn't appeared out of nowhere and jumped in to get me I would have died. There were people standing around watching and no one did anything.

 

[almburr]

Please put your children into swim lessons. American Red Cross basis the class levels on ability not age.

Teach your children never to jump in to water that they do not know the depth of. have them always exit at a ladder, or steps. Show them around the pool point out the depths. Tell them who the guards are.

And Parents never ever turn you back on your child so that you can sun bathe your backside, even if you say you child is a good swimmer and can hold thier breath for a long time.