Drowning the #2 cause of death in young children 1-14. In fact During a 10 year period from 2008-2018 Florida led the country in drowning deaths of children ages 1-4. According to the most recent data from the Florida Department of Health current national injury data. Swimming lessons is one of the biggest steps you can take to prevent your child from drowning. Make sure your children know how to swim at an early age. Last year Olympic skier Bode Miller’s 19-month-old daughter drowned during a neighbor’s pool party. Adults busy talking didn’t notice the baby had slipped into the pool. A Palm Coast 6-year-old had a similar situation with a happier ending. While adults were busy talking a friend of his mother’s noticed the child was in trouble and jumped in to save him. The child has since learned to swim. The second step in preventing children from drowning is supervision. A designated responsible adult should be watching children swimming at all times even if the children know how to swim. The third step is know CPR in the event of an emergency make sure you know. The fourth make sure a flotation device is always nearby to help in case a rescue situation occurs. We all want to keep our children safe and secure around the water. Equip your pool with designated “Pool Watcher” tags. Make sure at least one adult wears a designated “Pool Watcher” tag anytime you have a gathering of children in your pool. Drownings occur when adults are gathered around the pool and everyone thinks someone else is watching the children.

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