I snatch the kid, and the husband thinks I'm some sort of maniac/pederast/kidnapper. The lifeguard uniform was no help. True story.
Interesting article.
Bump.
There were lifeguards that were more concerned with their tan - it always amazed me why really bad things didn't happen more often.
Great article. Thanks for sharing it. Our family witnessed this type of thing several years ago. We were at the beach and several of us were about 70 yards back from the water where the picnic area was. My Father-in-law and Brother-in law were talking, standing in ankle deep water where the kids were swimming. Those of us back at the picnic tables could see my 2 year old neice (who was tiny for her age) had toppled over and was just floating face down in the water. We tried calling to them to get their attention but they just looked at us. Finally a couple guys ran down and pulled her out. She was fine but gave everyone a scare. You just can’t be so oblivious around little ones especially.
Excellent. Thank you for posting. It could save a life.
Thanks for posting. I have shared this article with my adult kids (especially the one who works at a community pool).
Certainly worth sharing. . .could well save a life.
Vital information everyone should know. Thanks for posting.
Outstanding article!
Outstanding post, thanks. The article and the comments which follow are very engrossing.
Excellent post. A real eye-opener for me.
My four year old son nearly drowned a couple of years ago...and it was in a pool that wasn’t very crowded. We have six kids and he just decided to slip out of his inflatable ring (I know, I know it’s not a flotation device)to see if he could touch the bottom. We didn’t hear a word - no struggle, no nothing. Just a little guy that was lying at the bottom of the pool until a guardian angel decided to reach in and pull him out.
Great article - a must click on and read - even the comments!
Thank you so much for posting this article. I’ve already shared it with my husband, and my daughters. I’m sure (as the comments at the site state) that this article has the potential to save MANY lives...
Once had some coworkers on my boat in a river close enough to the ocean for the river’s flow to be seriously affected by tides. The coworker’s daughters were on a tube tied to the boat with a 60’ rope. As the coworker and his wife joked with some other people and ate their lunch, I spotted the 10-yr old daughter hop off the tube to swim to the boat and get quickly taken back by the now swift, outgoing current of low tide. I immediately dove in the water, swam to her, and managed to swim with her against the current to grab the rope holding the tube.
Pulled us both back to the boat and climbed the ladder inside, where the clueless parents offered their daughter some lunch.
Amazing.
Our daughter nearly drown in a hot tub full of adults when she was 10 or 11. We, her parents, were standing next to the hot tub. She was timing herself to see how long she could hold her breath.
The last time, she went under and we were all counting. Got up to 90 seconds. I’m thinking, “wow~ I didn’t know she was so good.” All of a sudden, the hot tub pumps shut off and she pops up out of the water screaming, with a huge bruise on her back.
The safety grill was missing over the intake at the bottom and it created a suction on her back and held her down. Amazingly, she did hold her breath and had not ingested water in her lungs. We rushed her to the hospital, where they pronounced her healthy except for a huge hickey.
The horrible thing was we were RIGHT there, sober, fully awake and did not even realize something was wrong.
After the incident, our daughter developed an irrational fear of natural disasters. A nurse that works with near drowning victims told me that’s normal for kids that have such a close brush with death. They realize their mortality way too young.
OK.
Time for a personal story that’ll make me sound like an idiot (and I am).
About six or seven years ago, my two daughters were splashing in the “kiddie” pool while my brother and I sat less than three feet away. We were talking and not paying attention.
“Daddy.”
“Hold on, Sophie.” (back to conversation)
“Daddy.”
“Just a minute, Sophie.” (back to conversation)
“Daddy!!!”
“WHAT !!!”
“Lola’s under water.”
And there she was, in less than 18 inches of water, on her back, eyes open and looking up at us. My brother reached in with one arm, without dropping his cigarette and pulled Lola out.
I grabbed her and turned her over and patted her on the back until she coughed, and then she smiled at me.
“Don’t tell your mother.”
Thanks for posting this. I grew up in Pompano Beach Fla and the grade schools there required swimming lessons so all of us that were in school learned to swim. My baby sister was only 3 the day we were in our next door neighbor’s pool. All of the older kids were splashing and screaming the way kids do when one of the adults suddenly jumped up, screamed and pointed at the pool. My sister was laying on the bottom and looked like she was asleep. Dad jumped in and brought her up. As soon as she hit air she started choking and gasping. She was fine but kids don’t always stay at the surface when they are drowning. Mom and Dad took her for private swimming lessons that same week. Her young age probably helped save her because really young kids seem to survive near drowning better than older kids and adults.
Great article. I didn’t know any of this. Thanks for posting it.
This could also be analogous to our economic situation. We could go down suddenly, silently and without warning suffocating on our debt. There is no "Captain" to save us.