Thank you for sharing with me, Kerrigan!

And if you’re a parent reading this, listen to your instincts and do NOT put your child through this. Be with them in and near water 100% of the time, implement the multi safety measures mentioned above if you have a pool, and introduce regular swim lessons when they are old enough to verbalize their feelings to you.

That’s my two cents. Do with it what you will. You know your child(ren) best.

I also am no statistician, but I can’t understand how formal swimming lessons for 1 – 4 yr olds could ever help reduce risk of drowning (apart from teaching respect for water which you don’t need formal lessons to instill).
My eldest is a born water baby and always enjoyed swimming. She learnt to swim without aids by age 4. But whenever they did a session in lessons where they wore a t-shirt she wasn’t strong enough to swim! So doubt she would manage falling in fully clothed, or the many many other circumstances that would lead to drowning. My 2nd daughter was naturally fearful of water and always wanted full body contact with me from at least age 1-3 so I never dreamed of forcing her to do lessons. She found her confidence in the water playing in the paddling pool and now loves her swim lessons age 5. I’m in no rush to start expensive lessons with my 19 month old. They always have a cold at that age anyway! Just play in the pool and bath etc to remain comfortable with water.

I teach parent-child swimming lessons and I agree with all you said in your podcast. I do talks on Water Safety and I say it’s like the Location Location Location are the first 3 most important things about buying a house well in water safety it’s Supervision! Supervision! Supervision!!!
I wanted to ask you with regards to the quotes above where you lie on the thinking that our children often look to us for how to react to something. I have often said to parents, when we first put their child under the water, to ensure they put on a smile for their child to see as they come up. (I’d like to add that we have, by this point, taught parents to use cuing to give the child a heads up that water is to be sprinkled over their head, or that they will go under, so that the child has a chance to prepare or object, and that parents look for signs of readiness or objection and react according to the child’s reactions).
In the quotes above the point was that the child’s reactions were being ignored which is definitely not the way to go! I have heard that babies and indeed teenagers can find it difficult to read some facial expressions such as confusion or questioning looks and that they can often interpret these as anger. Is this correct and as I said before what’s your thoughts on how much our reaction can affect their reaction?
It is very late as I write this so I’m hoping it makes some sense to you!
Thank you

Great advice. Thank you, Gene.

Thank you for sharing your perspective, Caroline. Nicole’s story is horrific and heartbreaking. I read it just now. I am aware that drowning usually happens out of the parents’ sight and that’s why I emphasized:

“…these stories left me breathless, because the parents had all looked away. They’d been doing something else for a moment and didn’t see this happening. And I know that happens in life. But this is the most important thing for protecting our children — that we never (and you don’t hear me say never, ever very often, but I’m going to say it now), we never, ever allow our child to have access to water without complete undistracted supervision. Never, ever.

And that means that if we can’t supervise our child, that we ensure that they have barriers between them and water. We never allow our child access to a pool of water.”

This parent may not have been aware that her child could open the front door of the vacation home — that the barricade between her child and a swimming pool was penetrable. That was her tragic mistake. I imagine she was an otherwise attentive parent, but in this case she admits that she neglected to keep her child safe. Her recommendations are as follows:

“Drowning prevention requires multiple layers of protection. I now know Levi had zero barriers between himself and the water.

1. Install a 4-sided fence that goes fully around the entire pool.
2. Make sure the fence has self-closing and latching gates.
3. Utilize pool and door alarms.
4. Supervision: Designate a Water Guardian anytime there is access to water, even if the children are not swimming.
5. Enroll your child in quality swim lessons that lead to water competence. All swim lessons are not created equal. Progress should happen in weeks and months, not in years. Lessons should provide your child with the skills to survive if they were to fall into the pool. The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends swim lessons can begin at age 1. These lessons should focus on self-rescue and teach your child how roll-to-float or how to get to the side of the pool. I firmly believe that swim lessons would have saved Levi, and I will carry this regret for the rest of my life. Do NOT put off swim lessons.
6. Remove toys from the pool when finished swimming.
7. Learn CPR (drowning CPR requires rescue breaths).
8. Don’t let your child rely on puddle jumpers or flotation devices when in the pool. These create a false sense of security. Levi wore one in the pool just hours before he died.
9. However, ALWAYS wear life jackets when on natural water (lakes, rivers, oceans). Natural water is dark, deep, and has currents. It is not the same as a pool.
10. Children can drown in 2 inches of water and in 30 seconds. Be aware of buckets, toilets, irrigation ditches, ponds, baby pools, and bathtubs.

Some days I have confidence that we will survive this loss, that we can be happy, that Levi has forgiven us. Some days, the pain is brand new and I’m the mom looking in horror over the balcony and into the pool.

I never would have imagined surviving this long after losing a child. Yet, we are and we will. We are determined that Levi’s legacy will not be one of anger and bitterness – but of love and shared connections and hope.

Put in layers of protection to prevent drowning. Love each other. Choose to live a purposeful life.”

Nicole is courageous and generous to share her story in the hope of helping others. She believes that swim lessons would have saved her son’s life, but so would all of her previous 4 points, which were sadly neglected in this case. Swim lessons are #5 on her list of layers.

I recommend swim lessons when they can be conducted with at least a modicum of attunement and respect for the child.

Again, thank you for sharing this information.

I agree with you and the AAP that MANY layers of protection are needed to prevent child drownings and that no child, no matter what swim lessons they have had, is “drown proof.” Supervision, pool fences, removing toys from pools when finished swimming, locked doors, and survival swim lessons are each a layer put in place to help prevent drowning. Whether or not a parent chooses to use survival swim lessons for their child is a personal choice.

I am commenting because I believe you left out one very important point in your podcast. And that is that the majority of drownings in ages 1-4 happen during times that a child is NOT expected to be near water. Meaning, they do not happen when the child is swimming. By leaving this point out and simultaneously emphasizing that parental supervision is always necessary when a child is near water I feel as though you are perpetuating the fallacy that child drownings only happen to neglectful parents.

Please consider adding this information to your podcast and post. I fear parents and caregivers will listen to your podcast as is and think, “I am an attentive parent. I will just watch my children when at the pool/beach.” and chose to not teach their youngest children to float/swim or implement other preventative measures.

Drowning can happen to children with the most attentive and careful parents. This is why layers of protection are so important. Nicole Hughes became an advocate for preventing child drownings after loosing her son, Levi. I implore you to reach out to her as she can more eloquently explain how parents can live in a false sense of security when they believe that drowning only happens to to neglectful parents.

Thank you.