PARENT PLEA AFTER NEAR DROWNINGS
A VETERAN lifesaver is pleading with parents to watch their kids in the water after two near-drownings in a week on the beach he patrols.
Peter McDonald, 74, was on duty on Boxing Day at Stanwell Park, south of Sydney, when parents rushed their two-year-old boy to lifesavers after finding him at the bottom of a lagoon.
Just seven days later, a swimmer spotted a five-year-old boy on the floor of another lagoon. After efforts by patrol members and paramedics, he was flown to a Sydney hospital. Both boys have recovered.
In his decades at the beach, Mr McDonald has seen it all – beachgoers who didn’t heed the “swim between the flags” message because they were “not swimming”, tourists who stood with their back to the surf and others who jumped in fully clothed, only to be dragged down by the weight.
What he can’t bear is seeing young
children swimming unsupervised.
“Like the surf, you can’t turn your back on them,” he said. “You have to be watching young kids even when the water looks calm, because beneath the surface it often isn’t.”
Helensburgh-Stanwell Park surf club captain Karl Weber agreed, saying supervision and education were key to reducing drownings.
“There’s a need for more supervision, from parents, family and friends,” Mr Weber said. “Parents
often misjudge their child’s swimming ability, or they’ve not taken notice of the signs or the conditions and allowed children to swim in dangerous areas or areas like our lagoons that have warning signs.
“We see five-year-olds being monitored by their eight-year-old siblings, three-year-olds being looked after by five-year-olds. That’s really risking your kid’s safety. You need to stand by your kids and not take your eyes off them.”