Protect Your Grandchildren From Drowning

We smile at young grandchildren as they splash around in pools and dart in and out of ocean waves, always asking for "five more minutes" when we insist that it's time to head home. Although we all appreciate the fun, not enough grandparents, or parents, take the very real dangers of water play seriously. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drowning is the second-leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 14. Almost 900 children younger than 14 drown in the U.S. each year, while another 3,600 require emergency care for nonfatal submersion injuries.

Nadina Riggsbee knows the dangers firsthand. In 1978, her two toddler children were in the care of a babysitter who had to step away to use the bathroom. When the sitter came back, both children had gotten into the pool. Her daughter died and her son suffered serious brain trauma."My son was in the ICU for a year," Riggsbee says. "I was there every day and I started seeing all these children who [had] almost drowned coming into the ICU, every day. The average age was around 2. I asked the medical director, 'Is this usual?' and he told me it was becoming more of a problem because more people were getting pools." Riggsbee went on to found the Drowning Prevention Foundation in 1985 and today she speaks out to raise awareness among consumers, legislators, retailers, and child-care providers.

How can you keep children safe at your home pool? Redundancy and backup. Marlene Bloom, who has been teaching water safety for 33 years, knows that no single security measure is foolproof. That’s why she stresses having "layers" of protection, and says you should always ask yourself, “What if this safety measure fails? What next?”

Lines of Defense

There's a reason lawyers call pools "attractive nuisances," and why many municipalities require homeowners to fence in their pools even if they don't have children. It's because pools attract kids but offer such a high risk, sometimes even when gates and fences are deployed. You want to believe that when you lock a pool gate, you've done your job and don't need to worry about children getting in. The Johnson family of southern Florida learned how wrong that was on August 5, 2006, when their 2-year-old son, Devlin, drowned after climbing over a pool fence — something he had never done before.

The takeaway from tragedies like the Johnsons' is that even if your grandchildren couldn’t climb, unlock fences, or open the back door of your house the last time you saw them, they may be able to do it now. Fences are a good start, and a critical last line of defense, but they should be used in concert with other barriers at every step along the way from the inside of your home to the inside of your pool.

The first line of defense is you. Never leave children unsupervised, even inside your home — a third of the time when children drown in a home pool, they were last seen away from the pool area. Next, install both a door lock and an alarm or chime that sounds when someone opens your door. Next comes a lock on your pool fence gate. Finally, a pool alarm that sounds when someone approaches or enters the water. Also, never leave toys or inflatables in the pool when no one is swimming. A child reaching for one could slip into the water, or become obscured by a larger toy after they fall in. (The American Academy of Pediatrics endorses fencing over pool covers, since few people use covers consistently and correctly.)

Even if you install all of these safety devices remember that your pool is still the most dangerous part of your house. If you should ever lose track of a grandchild, check the pool first — most children who drown were without supervision for less than five minutes.

Swim Lessons Aren't Enough

Water-safety experts disagree on the best age for children to start swimming lessons, but grandparents should know what they do agree on. As the American Academy of Pediatrics stresses, swimming lessons "are not a way to prevent drowning," and "safety training does not result in a significant increase in poolside safety skills of young children." Even a grandchild who knows how to swim can drown just a few feet from safety. Do not let a child convince you that he or she is "big enough" to swim without an adult nearby in the water.

In the end, the most important layer of protection is adult supervision. Bloom warns against having a false sense of security in anything but yourself — don’t count on buoyant devices (water wings, rafts, or noodles), swimming lessons, or even lifeguards at a public pool. Lifeguards could be responsible for dozens of swimmers and can't have their eyes on your grandchild every moment. At the pool, watching your grandchildren demands your undivided attention. Children have drowned while the adult in charge of them talked on the phone, read the newspaper, or even ate a sandwich. Don’t automatically assume that someone else is watching the kids — if you’re with other adult family members, establish before the children jump in which one of you is the ‘lifeguard on duty,’ and make sure someone else is alerted to devote their attention to the children before you walk away. If no one else is available and you have to step away from the pool area, order the children to leave the area with you.

Even with all the appropriate safety measures in place, kids still get into mischief. Children don’t always wave their arms and shout “Help me, I’m drowning!” when they're in trouble, except in the movies. More often, a child just sinks silently beneath the water. Still, it can be hard to distinguish a child in trouble from one who’s just playing. Strongly discourage children from playing any games that involve pretend drownings or rescues. Monitor children by continuously talking to them while they're in the water — even when they’re right in front of you. If for any reason they don’t reply, step over and find out why. Make sure you have a shepherd’s hook or life preserver next to the pool — and know how to use them. Also, if at all possible, have a land line poolside. If you call 911 from a cell phone, emergency services can't track your address. And ideally, every adult who supervises children in the water should be trained in CPR. Contact the Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or your local hospital or fire department to locate courses in your area.

Drowning Doesn't Only Happen in Pools

Even if you don't own a pool yourself, grandchildren could be at risk when they visit if your neighbors have pools, Riggsbee warns, so "make sure your neighbors' side-gates to their pools are locked in case your grandchildren leave your yard or home."

Are you planning to pick up a little roll-up or inflatable wading pool for grandchildren to enjoy when they visit? That's great; but keep in mind that this type of pool is as dangerous as any other. Seventeen children drowned in inflatable pools in 2005, reports the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which encourages you to evaluate your home for other water dangers like garden ponds or fountains, and even buckets. The CPSC has documented 275 deaths of infants and toddlers in five-gallon buckets of the type usually used for household cleaning. Young children are often "top-heavy," and if they lean over to look into a bucket at their reflection in water or bubbles, they can easily fall in and be unable to escape. As the CPSC warns families, “A child can drown in the time it takes to answer the telephone.”