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Water
Sports & Boating
(swimming, home pools, boats,
personal watercraft)
Did you know?
About 1,500 children drown each year
in the United States.
Where do children drown? A study published in the
July 2001 issue of Pediatrics reports that
infants are most likely to drown in bathtubs, toddlers in
swimming pools, and older children in other freshwater
sites such as rivers and lakes. The study of 1,420
children was funded by the
National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (NICHD). Do not depend on baby bath
seats or rings to protect your child. Your child can slip out of the seat and
down into the water, and bath rings can tip over. Toddlers aren't strong enough
to lift themselves back out of a toilet, bucket, container or wading pool.
Consider using a toilet safety latch, don't ever leave your baby alone in the
tub, not even to answer the telephone, and empty all containers and wading
pools, and store them out of reach.
Swimming
lessons for toddlers: The
American
Academy of Pediatrics recommends against formal swimming instruction for
children under 4 years old. In some areas, drowning is the number one cause of death in
children under age 5. Children drown in pools, rivers, bathtubs, toilets, and even large
buckets of water. Any amount of water - even a few inches in a bathtub - can be dangerous.
If you take your toddler or preschooler swimming, don't leave the child alone, even for a
moment.
Watch your child -- don't expect others to do it:
In June, 2001, a 7-year-old drowned in a crowded swimming pool that had a
lifeguard on watch. We've watched as 2-year-olds stumbled alone around a
swimming pool, and we've seen tiny tots come scarily close to the edge of a dock
at a lake. Stay with your children. Don't depend on lifeguards, friends or
relatives to watch your child for you. Be alert to your child's abilities, to
how crowded the pool is, to how deep the water is or how hot the temperature is,
and to how recently your child ate or napped.
Carbon
monoxide poisoning: Also be alert to the danger of carbon monoxide
poisoning on or around your boat. Make sure your engine and ventilation systems
work properly, and never let your children play in the water near the exhaust system.
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Water safety tips: Make sure that you
and your children follow these
basic safety tips:
 | Teach all children
five years of age and older to swim |
| Constantly supervise
infants and young children around all bodies of
water. Pay attention to their energy level, to how much
water they're getting, and to how much sun they're getting. |
| Everyone must drink lots of water: While swimming
or out on the water, it's easy to get dehydrated without realizing it.
Soft drinks don't quench thirst (see our
Dehydration
page for more). Don't wait until a child is thirsty.
Thirsty children are already dehydrated. Children should drink to prevent
thirst, not to quench it. |
| Install
fencing with a locked gate that separates residential pools from the house.
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| Have a ladder up the side of the pool.
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| Don't dive into water that you haven't checked beforehand
for proper depth (some experts recommend at least nine
feet for diving). Teach your children to not do it either. |
| Always leave a safety ring with a
rope in the water (inflatable pool toys are not acceptable for rescues).
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| Look into pool alarms,
which activate when anything heavier than a certain weight falls into the
water. Also check out rigid pool covers (not light plastic). Just don't depend on pool covers
or pool alarms to protect your child. Pool
covers can trap a child who falls in, and pool alarms can malfunction. Your
constant presence is the best protection. |
| Have a phone in the pool
area with emergency numbers, contact information and CPR instructions
attached. |
| Use
personal flotation devices when riding on a boat |
| Teach
children never to swim alone. But don't depend on
your children's friends to protect each other. Even teenagers can panic and
forget what to do. Younger children will not be able to lift a friend out of
the pool or keep their head up. |
| Empty inflatable or infant
pools when not in use. |
| Don't allow young children
to use spas or hot tubs -- they can easily become overheated and/or drown. |
| Keep the pool area free of
clutter, and never allow children to run on the pool deck. |
| Learn
infant and child CPR. Make sure
that anyone watching the children also knows the appropriate type of CPR. |
| Don't allow your children
to swim alongside boats or fishermen,
or at beaches with large waves, a powerful
undertow or no lifeguards. |
| When boating, skiing or swimming,
all passengers should always wear a
Coast Guard-approved life vest that's properly
tightened and buckled. |
| Make sure someone on land knows where you're going and for
how long you'll be gone. |
| When boating, check your
boat and equipment before leaving and make sure everything is in working
order. If you're using a motor, have paddles on board in case the motor
develops a problem. Radio-communication capability will be helpful, even if
you have a cell phone (the phone might die out, get damaged or not work in a
particular area). |
| Be alert to weather forecasts, and watch for sudden changes
in wind, clouds and water choppiness. |
| Bring items such as long
shirts and pants, jackets, blankets, extra food and water,
extra life vests, a throwable personal flotation device, flashlight, extra
batteries, matches, map, first-aid kit, fire extinguisher, sunscreen,
compass, signaling device (such as whistle, air horn, mirror,
flares), cell-phone, etc. Keep everything in a safe (waterproof) location. |
| Wear appropriate sunscreen (a child's skin is more likely to
burn than an adult's -- don't wait until you see a burn, put the sunscreen on before you
go out and reapply every hour or so). A burn isn't fully apparent until several hours later. |
| Wear dock shoes, water slippers or tennis shoes to protect
feet from burns, glass, sea shells, crabs or needles and other garbage. |
| Wear good-quality sunglasses and
a large-brimmed hat to help protect eyes,
ears, face, neck and shoulders. Children's eyes are
more vulnerable to ultraviolet rays. |
| Again, we say:
Drink lots of water: While swimming
or out on the water, it's easy to get dehydrated without realizing it.
Don't wait until a child is thirsty. The child should be drinking to prevent
thirst, not to quench it. |
| Kill the boat engine when the boat isn't moving. This will
protect you and the children from boat exhaust, from the propellers and from being
stranded from a runaway boat. |
| Watch for signs of hypothermia -- it's one of the big
killers in water-related accidents. Babies, especially,
are vulnerable to the cold water in lakes, oceans and swimming pools, so take
them out after a few minutes and dry them off. Babies also are more vulnerable
to the bacteria in any water that gets swallowed. If you're stranded
overnight or in the water, wearing a wet suit and a hat will help to retain
body heat and prevent hypothermia. |
| If your boat capsizes,
experts say you should stay with the boat: the shore might be farther away
than it appears; bad weather or physical difficulties can hinder you; and some
rescue radar can detect boats but not individual swimmers. |
| Take a community class on water safety and CPR. Keep your
skills up to date. If you don't know how to swim, then
learn, and make sure your children also
learn how when they're old enough (age 4 or older is recommended by the American Academy
of Pediatrics). |
| Don't drink alcohol or ingest drugs or inhalants while
playing in or around water. Educate your children about
the dangers of mixing drugs or alcohol and water. |
| Before allowing your
children to play in outdoor water fountains, remember that they aren't
cleaned and sanitized as well as public swimming pools. Dangerous bacteria
living in the water can make your children seriously ill. |
| While water-skiing, tubing or rafting behind a boat, always
have at least two people in the boat so that one person can drive and the other person can
"spot" the skier. |
| Don't speed or behave recklessly while boating. Set a good
example for your children. Find out what the regulations are for your boat and obey them.
Learn more about how to boat safely from organizations such as the Office of Boating Safety (U.S. Coast Guard)
or the United Safe Boating Institute. |
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For More
Information:
| The American Red Cross
– safety tips for swimmers and boaters -- also for water
parks, rafting, tubing, sail
boarding, windsurfing, personal watercrafts, water-skiing, safety around lakes, rivers,
oceans and home pools. |
|
Lifesaver Pool Fence,
a commercial site – suggestions for safety around home pools. |
| U.S. Coast Guard,
Office of Boating Safety |
| KidsHealth
- keep your child safe at home, in a pool, at the lake, at a beach. |
| KidsHealth -
information on "swimmer's ear" |
| National Safe Boating Council
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| BoatU.S. Foundation |
|
American Canoe Association |
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