Keeping kids safe around water
It’s the August long weekend — the very height of summer. From coast to coast, this is going to be a weekend of beer, Caesars, pop, cheesies, burgers, sausages, ribs, steak and ice cream. Frisbees and footballs will fly. And there will be lots of wet, splashy, squealy fun in and around backyard pools. As someone who grew up without a pool or a cottage, the sights, smells and sounds associated with water were always the happiest of my summer: the whiff of chlorine, the slap-slap of wet feet on a concrete deck.
But before the pool parties begin, a word of caution. Two weeks ago, three-year old twins wandered outside while their mother was napping and drowned in the backyard pool of their Long Island home. The incident was highly publicized, and it would be comforting to think that such tragedies are rare and unusual.
According to the most recent report of the Canadian Lifesaving Society, every year somewhere between 450 and 500 people suffer unintentional water-related deaths. (Note the use of the word “unintentional.” The Lifesaving Society’s report says nothing about the intentional watery murders and cement-shoe drownings, and I don’t want to know.) More than a third of those accidental deaths happen during the summer months of July and August, and most of them happen on weekends.
Pools are not the worst culprits when it comes to drowning: 75 per cent of all accidental water deaths happen in lakes, streams, creeks or oceans. But there is one age group for whom backyard pools are the most serious hazard: children under age 5. According to the Lifesaving Society, 43 per cent of all unintentional water deaths for this age group happened in private pools. And one of the top risk factors for drowning deaths within this age group is “supervision present but distracted.”
The Lifesaving Society’s document, plainly titled “Canadian Drowning Report,” does an excellent job of describing the issue and its risk factors in objective, clinical language. But the emotional truth still sinks in pretty quickly because what it’s describing is the worst possible neighbourhood nightmare come true: kids playing, teenagers flirting, adults socializing and the littlest ones drowning from inattention.
Many parents allow themselves to believe that they’ll hear cries for help and be ready to respond. The problem is that water tends to be a silent killer and only eyes — not ears — will be able to spot danger.
In the moment of distress, people exhibit what’s known as the Instinctive Drowning Response. Among the signs: they will tilt their heads back, mouths bobbing near the surface of the water, but never long enough to take a proper breath. Their lungs are already flush with water, making it impossible for them to cry out for help. They don’t wave for help because they are too busy trying to use their arms to push above the surface. And they don’t demonstrate any kicking motion with their legs, whether to swim or to tread water.
When I first read about the Instinctive Drowning Response it brought back a vivid memory of my own near-drowning mishap. I was 8 years old, with years of swimming experience. That day, a splash of water from a thrown football went right into my mouth and down my windpipe. I tried to call for help, but could make only gulping noises. My legs were straight beneath me; I was trying to find bottom, so I could push up off it. The water wasn’t that deep, but somehow I could not find purchase.
I recall the fright of the moment most vividly. I still had my wits about me, but a series of unhelpful instincts had taken over my body. The adults were all no more than 50 feet away. Thankfully, a perceptive older kid spotted me, offered me a flutter board, and helped me out of the water.
So if you are celebrating the long weekend by a backyard pool, make sure at least one adult is keeping watch over it at all times. The more kids are in the pool, the more eyes you’ll need. And if the grown-ups are all needed to help prepare dinner, simply clear everyone out of the pool for a while. Water play is exhausting, especially in the hot sun, and time away from it can help keep everybody fresh and alert — and avert disaster. Philip Preville also writes on real estate, business and politics. Follow him on Twitter @ppreville.