Excellent article on what drowning looks like!

[Jenny_A]

A friend posted this on Facebook. It will change the way I watch my kids in the water. Note: There's a great video at the end of the article.

http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

[elliput]

Bumping-

I know this has been posted before, but it is a good idea to remind ourselves of the signs on a regular basis. Last summer, I had both kids at a pool and in a couple of seconds while I was paying attention to DS, DD had moved far enough into the deep end of the pool that she could not reach the bottom. I glanced up to see her start to sink under the water. As I reached out to grab her, the life guard who was looking our way quickly stood up. I knew exactly what was starting to happen because I had read this article last summer and the summer before. Drowning can happen fast- remember to stay vigilant.

[MamaMolly]

Thank you so much for posting this!

[Twoboos]

Thanks for posting this reminder, I am going to forward to DH. Now that we have a pool, this article is more important than ever for me. I need to take a CPR class.

The last line really struck me: "And parents – children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why."

[twowhat?]

This is a great article - every summer I post it on FB and I need to do that again - I think he added a new video this time.

Great reminder that drowing/struggling in the water is SILENT and you cannot rely on your ears for "screams for help" because it won't happen that way.

Our realtor, who had never seen this article before, warned me when we bought our house that if a child ever fell into the pool, it would be SILENT because she had witnessed it happen to her own son (she was right there to pull him out, but was struck at how silent the whole process was, including the noise of entry into the water - very little splash). I sent her this article and she thanked me and now sends it to everyone who is considering buying a house with a pool.

[crl]

Dh watched ds slip into the water accidentally and unnoticed during a swim lesson. Two instructors and a lifeguard missed it and only pulled ds out because dh screamed at them to get him (dh was on the other side of a chain link fence watching the class). He said it was completely silent and he was terrified.

Catherine

[edurnemk]

Thank you for posting, I had read it before, but it's always a good reminder.

Last week we were at our neighbors for a Memorial day BBQ, and DS was in their pool. I asked him to stick to the shallow part, and I was 5 feet away sitting by the edge of the pool, but he suddenly stepped off into the deeper part, and although he's taking swimming lessons and knows how to float and move around in deeper water, I guess he wasn't expecting it to be so deep. The scene was exactly was described in the article. As he stepped into the deep water, I was watching but waited 2 seconds to see how he reacted (if he could swim back) but he remained upright, not kicking, moving his arms around, his head thrown back and his mouth open barely above the water surface. My mom and another neighbor who were in the pool started run towards him but by then I had already thrown my 8-month pregnant (and fully dressed) self into the water to pull him out. It all happened in less than 10 seconds. And it was terrifying for me.

One of the neighbors commented that he thought DS reacted very well "because he was treading water and keeping his head up"... uuuhmmm nope, he would've drowned, he did not react like he's supposed to.

[Nu_mama]

Frightening to read, but so helpful! I just shared it on FB and intend to have our summer babysitter read it as well.

[MamaKath]

As training for the volunteer team I am on, we had to watch a drowning on video. So scary and sad to see how quickly it happens leaving very little rescue time. Good reminder to help keep kids safe!

[ladysoapmaker]

Thanks for the reminder.

It's really scary how quickly it can happen.

And remind kids they need a buddy and if the buddy leaves the pool so do they.

Jen

[infomama]

Thanks for posting again....stay vigilant everyone!

[LMPC]

Very interesting article! Thanks for posting!