Water Safety: Parent’s Number One Priority

Adults must actively supervise children around water—staying close enough to intervene in an emergency-- in order to reduce the number of drowning. Research has shown that 88% of all children who drown were under the supervision of another person, usually a family member. More than 900 children ages 1 – 14 drown each year nationwide.

According to Clear Danger: A National Study of Childhood Drowning and Related Attitudes and Behaviors, more than half (55 percent) of parents say there are some circumstances where it is acceptable for a child to swim unsupervised. Even when parents say they are supervising, many are participating in a variety of distracting behaviors including talking to others (38%), reading (18%), eating (17 %t) and talking on the phone (11%).
SAFE KIDS recommends adults take turns serving as the “water watcher” – whose sole responsibility is to constantly observe children in or near the water.
While better quality supervision is critical, the study also found that many adults were not properly fencing pools, requiring use of personal flotation devices (PFDs), or teaching their children how to swim.
The National Safe Kids Campaign recently launched a public education program to prevent drowning. In addition to swimming, water safety also includes bathing and laundry. A water safety checklist for adults is listed below.

• Never leave children alone near water.
• Tell children never to run, push, or jump on others around water.
• Learn infant and child CPR.
• Children should always wear U.S. Coast Guard approved life jackets.
• Inflatable inner tubes and ‘water wings” are not safety devices.
• Keep toilet lids down.
• Keep doors to bathrooms and laundry rooms closed.
• Child in baby bath seats and rings must be within arms’ reach every second.
• Teach children to swim after age 4.
• Make sure children swim within designated swimming areas of rivers, lakes and oceans.