Water is a lot of fun for most kids. Learning water-safety is essentials. It’s important that families understand how to keep their children safe.
Some people think that if a child is drowning nearby, they would hear it. The reality is that drowning can be silent. There can be very little splashing, waving or screaming. Drowning is quick. Once a child begins to struggle, you may have less than a minute to react.
Here are a few tips for parents to use while the kids have fun around water:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention children ages, 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates. In 2014, among children 1 to 4 years old who died from an unintentional injury, one-third died from drowning and most drownings occurred in home swimming pools. Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children 1-4 than any other cause except congenital anomalies (birth defects). Among those 1-14, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death behind motor vehicle accidents.
If your child has come close to drowning should be given a complete medical examination, even if she seems all right. If she stopped breathing, inhaled water, or lost consciousness, she should remain under medical observation for at least twenty-four hours to be sure there is no damage to the respiratory or nervous system.
Watch this video from the American Academy of Pediatrics to protecting children from drowning.
http://discover.pbcgov.org/drowningprevention/Pages/default.aspx