Keeping Children Safe in the Water
While you’re out swimming this summer remember these 5 Tips for keeping your child safe around water:
- Teach children to swim. It’s the best way to be safer in the water. Research shows that parents are the most influential factors in whether or not a child learns to swim. Only 13 percent of children from non-swimming households will ever learn to swim, according to national research conducted by the University of Memphis for USA Swimming. (2008)
- Make sure a responsible adult is watching the water at all times. Drowning can be completely silent, and most child drownings occur when the victim has been out of sight for less than five minutes. (Consumer Product Safety Commission)
- Remind kids to always obey the rules of the pool and remind them not to jump on or dunk other swimmers, and not to jump or dive unless they know how deep the water is.
- Require kids to always swim with a buddy.
- Remember, you don’t have to be at a pool to drown. Lakes, rivers, large puddles and any other bodies of water also require caution. Make sure your child knows how to swim, whether or not they’ll be around a pool this summer.
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