Here are some tips to keep your family safe around the water:

• Children and inexperienced swimmers should ALWAYS wear a US Coast Guard-approved life jacket when around the water.
• Set water safety rules for the whole family based on swimming abilities (for example, inexperienced swimmers should stay in water less than chest deep).
• Be knowledgeable of the water environment you are in and its potential hazards such as deep areas and changing currents. The more informed you are, the less likely you are to get hurt.
• Drain inflatable pools and coolers after each use. A toddler can drown in just one inch of water.
• Stay within arms length of inexperienced swimmers.
• Teach kids never to swim alone.
• Don’t let kids dive into water less than nine feet deep.
• Swimming lessons and life jackets do not replace supervision. Always watch kids in and around water. Drowning is quick and silent – it can happen in less than a minute.
• When many people are near the pool at the same time, assign a water watcher. Don’t assume someone else is watching!
• Keep a phone nearby so you can quickly call 911 in an emergency.

A Drowning Happens In Seconds

It could happen to you! A diligent father switches his attention to the phone while his child sinks lifelessly to the bottom of the swimming pool. A normally attentive mother is cooking in the kitchen, her youngster falls into the neighbor’s pool. A conscientious babysitter is distracted by the needs of one of her many charges, another wanders off and drowns.

Obviously supervision is critically important, but it’s virtually impossible to supervise young children every minute of every day. That is why parents and caregivers must provide multiple layers of protection – pool fencing, self-closing, and self-locking gates, automatic sliding door closers, pool alarms, automatic safety covers, as well as constant supervision.

Info courtesy of:  //www.drowningpreventionfoundation.org/