Please remind your kids to be safe around rivers

[DisneyFirefly]

Last night, an eight year old boy fell in the Chicago River in my neighborhood. Since he's been missing since last night, it's now a recovery effort and not a rescue. The last I heard, he still hadn't been "officially" found, but my mom was walking our dog in the park near where he fell in the water and texted me while I was on my way to work to tell me that they may have found his body. It had rained pretty heavily last week, so the river was still pretty swollen, which caused a swift current that the cops attributed to his going missing so quickly. Another article, with a clip from tonight's news. You can't really tell in the video, but the entire length of the river through that park is fenced off (and has been for as long as I can remember, and we've lived in this neighborhood for 23 years).

Please please please hug your kids tonight and remind them to be safe around rivers and other waterways.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I grew up on an island in the middle of a large, fast flowing river, at the entrance to a very large lake. Everyone in my hometown had a boat. Every kid there grew up on the water. Not only that, the island had a "canal" running through the middle of it that passed a good 100 yards from my house. I knew of people who died on the river. I knew of people who died on the canal. I knew of toddlers who fell while walking on a shoreline and drowned in just a few inches of water. I knew of people who threw themselves off bridges upstream and ended up in my friends' backyards. I knew of all these things, and still spent my summers boating on and swimming in the river. In winter, I skated on the canal and the river's edge. I swung on giant unsafe rope swings over the water until I dropped into its chilly depths. I mucked my way through wetland swamps. It was a great childhood.

Parents, please give your kids swimming lessons. Please teach them boating safety. Please make sure they wear a life jacket. And if you go skating on a natural lake or river, please make sure that the thickness of the ice is assured first.

Just don't make your kids afraid of the water. Don't tell them to be afraid of something they shouldn't. Don't make them miss out on great childhood experiences because a few bad things happened to a few random people.