Water safety for kids

Water safety is crucial for kids. Constant supervision and training is required to ensure safety. #safety #watersafety #familyfun
All kids enjoy playing with water. Our little one enjoys water regardless of its size — a swimming pool or a plastic kiddie pool or even a glass of water on the floor. As much fun as it can be with water, parents need to make sure that safety precautions are always in place around water. Texas Department of Family and Protective Services lists a rich set of water safety tips in this link: Water Safety.

Through this post, we are wholeheartedly promoting the water safety tips, especially for families with small children. The basic idea is to watch kids around water at all times.

Never leave children near water alone

Regardless of whether it is a small baby bath tub or a large swimming poll, not for even a few seconds adults may leave a child near water. I am not joking — small children should not be left alone near even a toilet.

Keep aquariums out of reach of children

If you have aquariums, keep them out of reach of children. As we all know, any glass piece is a potential hazard. Additionally, aquariums are a potential chemical Hazard and an electrical hazard.

Make sure that the house is not slippery

Toddlers and small children run a lot. They don’t always have their balancing act in place. It is important to make sure that the house, the bath tub, and the yard, are not slippery. It is also important to not have exposed water in buckets or tubs around toddlers. An inch or two is enough to drown a child of young age.

Secure the water-area

If the pool or the tub is portable, keep it out of reach of children when it is not in use. Install fences around your swimming pool. It is better to install fences with a self-closing gate. Keep the gate closed at all times.

Do not leave items of attraction near water

All children have some favorite toys. It is better to keep all favorite as well as not-so-favorite toys in a safe place, NOT near the water. A child at any moment may think that her/his world will be upside down without the toy near the water and then run for it.

Bring all the plastic ducks back to the house after your child plays with them in the pool so that the child knows that the toys are never kept near water.

Do not trust your children

Haha … I mean, do not assume that your children will use good judgments around water. Even preteen children lose control of their emotion and excitement when they are around water. You might have seen how kids jump on top of one another when they are in and near the pool.

Do not leave a baby during bath

Suppose, I realize that I haven’t brought the towel when I am giving my child a bath. I will have to take my child with me if I have to leave to get the towel.

I will always try to get what I need during my child’s bath before I start.

Make sure that your child’s caregiver knows about constant supervision near water

If your child goes to a daycare center, I am sure the caregivers are trained and aware of constant supervisions near water. Still speak with the caregivers to learn about what precautions they take near water, if there is a water nearby.

Talk to your babysitter if she/he is aware of the constant supervision requirement near water. Remind the babysitter regarding the precautions. Leave emergency numbers with your babysitter.

Learn about the place where your child may visit

If your child goes on play-dates to a friend’s place, learn about the home of your child’s friend. Definitely, the first question to ask is if that residence has guns. 🙂 Just kidding regarding the gun thingy but this is something to think about as well. If the place where your child is going has a swimming pool, you will need to discuss the water safety tips with the parents of your child’s friend.

Learn about risks of drowning

CDC reported for the period of 2005-2014 that there were about ten deaths per day due to unintentional drowning. Of those ten, two are children of age 14 or younger. Among the many factors influencing drowning risk, two are lack of swimming ability and lack of supervision. Know the signs of drowning because a drowning child most often will not be able to yell for help.

Water often causes dry drowning. Dry drowning is the case when the vocal cord fills up with water making it hard to breathe even though water does not reach the lungs. Dry drowning sometimes occurs if children breathe in water when swimming or playing or splashing in the pool. Such dry drowning related breathing problems may occur up to twenty four hours later the child gets out of the pool.

Learn CPR

Learning CPR is a must. You might live near a hospital. Your house might be next to a fire station. Your neighbors might be health care providers. When it comes to water safety, none of these matters because every second matters during emergencies. Learning CPR is the first step of water safety preparedness.

Keep emergency phone numbers handy

Call 911 in an emergency. They will send the appropriate responder on your way. Text messaging 911 does not work. You have to call. Keep a list of phone numbers handy for non-emergencies.

Settle in El Paso team
Note: The post contains affiliate links.



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Comments

98 thoughts on “Water safety for kids

  1. This is true, guardians and parents must give 100% attention whenever kids play in the water. We can’t be sure how they behave and so the best thing to do is to always see they are safe. Xoxo. Cheers!

    1. Thank you for the addition. Definitely, parental control is necessary around a pool. Glad to know that you liked the post. Have a wonderful evening.

  2. I agree to all of these tips! We should never let our children off our sight. On the other hand, not just the adults, but also the children themselves should learn CPR. There are a lot of institutions that offer trainings for a very low cost and sometimes free! It’s better to be ready than to be sorry, they say. 🙂

  3. I grew up in a tropical climate and in a house with a built-in backyard swimming pool. My mom got swimming lessons for myself and my sister as early as she possibly could. Given how often we’d swim at home and at summer camp and friends’ houses, it was super important to her that we knew how to swim.

  4. I always love your post. It’s life saver. All those information are very helpful that all of us should be aware of specially if we have kids and elderly at home. Thank you so much.

  5. Water is very important for everyone because it supplies the needs of people not just only for drinking but for pleasure as well. It is human’s responsibility to take care of our natural resources and one of these is the water. We are very sensitive especially to children because they are easily expose in playing and drinking water and we should be looking after them if they are safe to have it in order to maintain good health.

  6. Excellent tips on water safety! Appreciate it so much. To sum it all parents should always be attentive in watching over their kids the same way as with baby sitters. Never ever trust your toddler and always keep an eye watch in everything they do. I am a hands on dad and I make sure I never move away my eyes on them when I am around. I don’t want to regret everything simply because I am too careless.

  7. I love this post. It is really important to know these advices especially if you have little kids in the house. Like me I have a 2 yr old kid that needs 100% supervision. He touches everything in our house so it is advisable to alwaks keep an eye on him. This post definitely is a big help since it it gives you ideas on how to take good care of children importantly about water safety.

    1. I am glad to know that you liked the post. Definitely, with little ones 100% supervision is necessary. Thank you for visiting and commenting. Have a wonderful week.

  8. @xperienced..sorry to hear about your one time neighbor who drowned.

    I agree that kids should be taught swimming at the earliest possible age/stage to avoid any possible future mishap like that of your neighbor. But until then, I strongly recommended the above tips for kids safety around water.

  9. This is indeed a very useful list for parents, especially for those who have toddlers and preschoolers. It is extremely imperative that there is someone who would look out for the children whenever they’re in water to prevent any accidents. Then again, just in case things like this could happen, learning how to do CPR properly would come in very handy.

  10. You have posted the real danger and if we would follow all your tips our kids would be safe. I think that all we must do is to never stop watching our kids when they are near the water because it is enough to turn our head for one second a tragedy may happen!

  11. We use a plastic tub to give a bath to our baby. We never leave our baby alone in the tube. Our baby is also very small to walk or crawl, therefore, we are not in big dangers, however, we are also aware that when the baby begins to walk, we need to make sure, that the kid does not have access to swimming pools, bathtubs, water tanks etc. I know a parent who lost his child when the buy was trying to peek inside a water tank. Therefore, I am very concerned about eater safety measures.

    1. That is indeed awful, especially considering that it could have been prevented. I guess that is one example where proper CPR is a knowledge that could be more than useful for all parents.

    2. Definitely leaving a kid alone is just like suicide. I mean your simply putting your kid to danger and remember regret comes in the last. There is nothing wrong with keeping a keen watch we really don’t know when accidents may happen especially to kids.

      1. I agree that it is indeed like suicide. Kids don’t have the proper judgment to realize the real impact and consequences of not being careful around water. For them, it is all about fun and games, nothing more.

  12. I was told of a woman who was bathing her newly born child in a water filled bathtub when the phone in the room rang. She had been expecting the call. Without thinking, she dropped the infant in the bathtub and headed for the phone…unbelievable right? Well it’s actually a joke, am only trying to point out to the the tip “Don’t leave a baby alone during bath”. I mean, who does that?

    However, one can never be to careful when it comes to water and children. I agree with all the safety trips above. These are some of the reasons why I always keep an extra eye on kids whenever they are around a large amount of water.

  13. Ha ha ha! I love your advice “Do not trust your children” this is so true. Even my children is a swimmer, I do not trust them especially in the beach. Sometimes the beach is deceiving. It looks calm but later it will start to be wavy worse is sometimes the current is strong and it’s too late for you to realize your child is already in a deep water. That’s why I tried to learn CPR in case of emergency. We don’t know when will accident strikes so parents, be alert when your children are having a good time in the water.

  14. Such a nice article about water safety for kids and children. I could recall when I nearly drown in water while I was 8 as result of mom taking us to a restaurant that has got a pool and went to get something from the car. My kid brother was just 6 then, but I was lucky that nearby persons rescued me that day.

    There is this attraction that always makes kids want to play in the water and that is what most parents need to know. Thank you for making such a nice list of how to protect the children from the water. Importantly, not leaving them alone where there is water assuming they won’t go near.

  15. I love your post and your advise. We really need to make sure that kids will always be safe especially in water. As much as possible, we shouldn’t loose our sight to them because a fraction of a second can be a lethal to them.

  16. We should never leave our children near a pool or sea. Because they have the tendency to enjoy the water but they don’t know that they can drown from water. We have to always stay vigilant and mindful in the presence of the children. Be careful and stay safe!

    1. That is true. Young children have no real idea about the real consequences of their actions. They mainly focus on the enjoyment brought about playing on the water, not having real clue about the dangerous effects of this.

  17. Never leave your kids in a swimming pool by themselves. The amount of videos I have seen that have been recorded by CCTV cameras and the kids are drowning but no one can notice. I’ve even seen one happen in a filled up swimming pool with people all around but they don’t notice this one kid drowning. It’s horrible to watch. You should always look after your kid when they are near the swimming pool or swimming in it.

  18. It is a smart idea if you are with your kids at anytime or everytime for you to guard your children from to the water. Many kids are happy to see the swimming pool so they tend to walk a around it and accidentally fall to the water. We should be responsible for the safety of our kids.

  19. Thank you for your informative and thoughtful tip on water safety for kids. This is really helpful for me as a parent.

  20. It is a great article. I find this article highly informative. Always have parents accompany their children to pools. Children should be taught all the water safety measures beforehand. Swimming should be the first thing a child learns after growing up.

    1. Yes, learning to swimming is very important. Even if kids know how to swim, grownups need to supervise water activities, as you said. Thank you for visiting and commenting.

  21. If parents knew how imporant this information is…
    I sadly have a case like this in my family. The whole family was shattered, of course. Never trust your kid alone near a pool, lake or sea. Cheers,

    1. I am so sorry to hear that you experienced something very sad. I wish all the blessings for your family.

      Have a wonderful evening. Thank you.

  22. Thank you for the tips, these are really helpful. Kids always love swimming. They enjoyed a lot and tend to forget some things around them when they are in the water. I’ve red an article about dry drowning, it’ s scary but tganks to the tips and avice.

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