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Drowning oftentimes is a sudden, silent killer.

Too many children drown both nationally and here in Harris County. Yet, too few of us know what drowning looks and sounds like. Sometimes even good swimmers are unaware.

So far this year, 12 children have drowned in Harris and surrounding counties, including seven children age 4 and younger.

To help avoid preventable deaths, parents and other supervisory adults need to realize that drowning may not be dramatic. It may look nothing like the typical scene in Hollywood movies in which a drowning victim, yelling for help, goes down, once, twice, then three times.

Instead, drowning is often quiet. Take the story of a 3-year-old boy named Judah Brown who died nearly two years ago, two days after his family pulled him from an apartment pool in west Houston. Christi Brown, his mother, was sitting next to the pool with her son one minute. When she looked for him again, maybe a minute later, she found him underwater. The apartment pool had a water feature with jets so loud, Brown didn’t hear her son go under, as reported by Chronicle reporter Samantha Ketterer.

Judah’s story isn’t unusual. Drowning people are usually struggling to breathe and are often unable to call out for help. In real life, a drowning victim might merely tilt his head back.

Drowning can be quick, without the thrashing around shown in the movies.

In the time it takes to read this sentence, a child can be submerged. A child can lose consciousness while an adult takes his eyes off her to grab a towel or to rub in a coat of sunscreen.

Drowning requires little water. It can happen in any body with enough depth to cover the mouth and nose. While most children drown in backyard swimming pools, they can drown in bathtubs, septic tanks — even buckets.

Nationally, drowning is the No. 1 cause of death in children ages 1 to 4, aside from birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While drowning is too common in Houston, the area has made strides in making water safety available to more children.

Each year, the YMCA of Greater Houston provides free swimming survival lessons at certain apartment buildings through the Houston Apartment Association. More than 20,000 children have learned to swim through the lessons in the 11 years of the program, Afet Mesigil, associate director of aquatics at the YMCA of Greater Houston told Ketterer. These lessons have undoubtedly saved lives.

Judah, the youngest of seven children, was buried a week after he died. With summer now in full swing, parents and other adults should redouble their vigilance around water.