Olympic star’s water safety message,
Olympian Phelps and his son bring star power to watersafety lessons.
Swimming superstar Michael Phelps — and his baby son Boomer — have signed on to help Kiwi kids learn water safety, and hopefully cut our country’s youth drowning rate.
The most successful Olympian with 28 medals, Phelps has teamed up with Water Safety New Zealand, Plunket, Parents Centre and Huggies Little Swimmers in a campaign that kicks off this week.
Phelps will feature in videos with baby Boomer, blowing bubbles in the water and playing under a sprinkler.
The 32-year-old American will give simple tips about how he and Boomer get water-ready for summer in the video clips which will air on Facebook from December.
Liz Metz of Kimberly-Clark New Zealand, the owners of Huggies nappies, said the team at Huggies Little Swimmers swimpants were grateful to Phelps and his wife, Nicole, for the support.
“To have a world-famous swimming superstar teaching his baby son how to blow bubbles in our water-safe campaign this summer is amazing.
“In the videos Michael and Nicole Phelps show us how to get into the water with our littlies, hold them close, keep them safe and enjoy the water together.”
New Zealand’s water safety record for children has become significantly worse in recent years according to figures in the Water Safety New Zealand Drowning Prevention Report 2016.
It shows hospitalisations of Kiwi kids under 5, from accidental immersion in water, more than doubled last year to 42, compared with 20 in 2015.
Fatalities for the same age group were shown to have reduced to three last year, but that level still falls short of Water Safety New Zealand’s zero target.
Chief executive Jonty Mills said parents are right to want their babies to have positive water experiences.
“The most important water safety message when it comes to under-5s is constant supervision.
“They should always be within your line of sight and within arm’s length for toddlers when in or around water. It takes less than a minute for a child to drown.”
Mills supported the work to help make lessons more accessible to families involving a series of initiatives that begin this week. They include:
● Baby swim scholarships;
● Half price baby water confidence lessons through YMCA and Plunket in Auckland;
● Subsidised lessons through Parents Centre and some swim schools.
A Huggies survey found 45 per cent of Kiwi adults recall a frightening water experience from childhood.
Those parents who had a water scare were shown to have heightened awareness of the need for children to have positive water experiences and lessons at a young age.
It found 55 per cent of parents in New Zealand had taken their children to swimming lessons.
Plunket safety adviser Sue Campbell said the campaign partners were working to encourage parents to take their children to lessons early, with the new efforts to address the cost barrier for parents.
YMCA Swim School quality services manager Karla McCaughan said the aim was to educate adults about the need for vigilant supervision of their children, and teach children to wait until an adult was with them every time they go near water.
“We will start to see a generational change. We say: ‘Teach the children, educate the parents, change the culture’.”