03/23/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/1CkJDhZMYP/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Swim time is done and you are making lunch. You check the kids, who are happily playing in the living room. You go back to making lunch. Three minutes later, you check again. Your 1 year old is playing by himself and your 3 year old is gone. You panic and look around…and then you see the open door that leads to the pool….
It’s break time at the community pool and you have your kids out, eating some snacks. Your littlest needs a diaper change, so you start to change them on the bench, beside the table. You look up and your 2 year old’s food is half eaten-the child is not there with it. You look to the pool….
It’s a busy pool party. Your kids are getting in and out of the water. Your youngest can’t swim but has their puddle jumper on so you let them run around and you check frequently while you set out the pizza that just arrived. You just saw her 2 minutes ago, puddle jumper fastened, running with friends. You look up again and the puddle jumper is on the ground. You look around and she isn’t with her friends anymore….
All of these are real stories that actually happened. Any of them can happen to any of us.
They are a reminder of just how quick and easy it is for a child to drown.
We cannot just expect that because it’s not water time anymore, that our kids won’t try to find ways to get back to it without us….even if they have rules or have been told not to.
We have to put barriers between the kids and the water. We have to remain with them and undistracted while they are in or around water. We have to give them the skills to survive in the water, and not just rely on flotation devices to save them.
This stat should sober everyone about this.
1) Don’t let it be easy for them to find the water without you.
2) Teach them to float so that if, for some reason they do happen to slip past your watch, they can survive until you can get to them.
