Do you have a pool or live in an area where you swim more than just a couple of weeks per year?

If so, here are some tips for water safety. Water safety is extremely important especially since drowning is the leading cause of death among children under age 5 in Florida. That’s a very scary statistic!

Supervision of your children around water is key. Don’t leave your children unattended in a pool, lake or even the bath. I often read newspaper articles about someone having gone inside the house for “just a minute” to answer the phone, get a drink, etc., and tragically, during that short time, the child drowns or nearly drowns in the family pool. No phone call or errand is worth your child’s life.

Also, be sure entrances to your pool area are in no way accessible to children. In Florida, there are laws for new pools that require fencing or some other mechanism to lock children out. All of my mom friends have fencing around the pool that allows for the mom to open for a swim.
Remember to consider the places where you may not be supervising your child personally like a relative’s or friend’s house. We installed plastic Burglar Bars at my mother-in-law’s house to keep our children from opening the doors to the pool.

Finally, have your kids learn how to swim. There are a variety of choices in swim lessons available depending on your area. Many YMCAs and recreation programs have swim classes. There are also private lessons by individuals, sometimes at their homes, sometimes at your home. If you are in a warmer area, you will probably find individual swim schools as well. With any of these, talk with the instructors about how they teach the child to swim. Repetition is an important part of the lessons and you may find you need to do lessons over the summer for a few years.

Personally, we picked a swim school local to us that came recommended by friends. Originally, we took our 3 year old daughter to the city’s recreation program for classes. At the end of the month (3 days a week), she was no better off than we started and she still wouldn’t put her face in the water.

The Seal Swim School located in Tarpon Springs, Florida was our choice. At the end of the first week (also 3 days a week), our daughter was swimming with her face in the water. By the end of the first one month session, she was swimming 5 feet with her face in the water unassisted. After a second consecutive session, she was swimming 8 feet. This year, we started her again and she’s turning into a fish in the water! This school has been a great help and I feel confident that if my daughter fell in a pool, that she could get out without help. We still watch her the entire time she swims but it is no longer necessary to be in the water with her.
If you’d like to learn more information about the Seal Swim School, visit their website at www.SealSwimSchool.com. They have other locations in Lutz and South Tampa. If you decide to attend, mention Vanessa Cox as your referrer and we’ll get a discount when we put our infant in next year.

Be safe!