"The water's fine" by toastforbrekkie on flickr
Imagine that you’re sitting by your backyard pool and the weather is like today’s, hot and humid with 90+ degree heat. To beat the heat, your child has invited one of his/her friends over to swim in your pool. They’re having a great time playing games and jumping off the diving board. You’ve been sitting in the shade in the backyard, keeping an eye on them. The phone rings inside the house, so you run inside for just a minute to answer it. When you return outside, you can only see one of the children in the water. The other has gone under. You run over to the pool in a panic.
Situations like this are all too common this time of year. Sometimes, the outcome can be tragic. To avoid something like this happening at your home, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends:
- Never leave your children alone in or near the pool, even for a moment. An adult who knows CPR should actively supervise children at all times.
- Practice touch supervision with children younger than 5 years. This means that the adult is within an arm’s length of the child at all times.
- You must put up a fence to separate your house from the pool. Most young children who drown in pools wander out of the house and fall into the pool.
- Keep rescue equipment (such as a shepherd’s hook or life preserver) and a telephone by the pool.
- Do not use air-filled “swimming aids” as a substitute for approved life vests.
- Remove all toys from the pool after use so children aren’t tempted to reach for them.
- After the children are done swimming, secure the pool so they can’t get back into it.
For the full list of tips, please go to http://www.aap.org/family/tipppool.htm.
