Children drowning on holiday.

I am absolutely terrified of my kids drowning. In lockdown we had a blow up hot tub which my daughter loved. We only had it half filled and she had a life vest on. We constantly watched her. Mil visited one day and said we should take the vest off. I said absolutely no way. She won't be another victim of drowning. She obviously thought I was being ott but I didn't care.

It only takes seconds I wouldn't judge

This. Accidents happen. Sometimes no-one is to blame. That’s hard for a lot of people many of whom seem to need to start threads like this so they can reassure themselves that it will never happen to them by blaming someone for not being careful enough or for making a mistake. It’s incredibly unfair and insensitive of the poor people who are suffering the most at the time, like these parents, securely as (regardless of fault) they will probably be blaming themselves anyway as is human nature in these instances).

it’s also worth remembering that being increasingly risk averse has its own risks and harms, and we should be cautious of being over cautious.

That’s a really useful graphic I’ve never seen before.

Hot pink swimming costumes for the family holiday this year!

I’m not referring to those PPs, obviously. They are not holier than thou.

There are plenty of PPs who are saying they haven’t had this happen to them because of all their precautions. Almost preaching about how they would never let their child in the water without them. It is naive at best and judgemental at worst.

All these holier than thou PPs…. I never let my child out of my sight blah blah blah.

A large proportion of the thread is describing how people don't let the child out of their sight and they still managed to get into difficulty. That's the opposite of being 'holier than thou', that's admitting that watching them to the extent that there is no risk is impossible - exactly the point you are making.

Exactly.

All these holier than thou PPs…. I never let my child out of my sight blah blah blah.

The only way to 100% guarantee your child could never drown is to never, ever be in the vicinity of a body of water.

Everything else, such as having your child know how to tread water or lay on their back, or having a 1-2-1 child/adult ratio, or always holding their hand, or always being in the water with them etc etc just reduces the risk. It doesn’t eliminate it.

Drowning can happen so quickly and in the blink of an eye.

When my son was about 4 I had him in the baby pool in his rubber ring thing. There were dividers between the baby pool and big pool that you couldnt really fit through (I thought). He could swim at that age (was a competitive swimmer by age 6.5).

I got out and took my baby off my husband but sat on the edge of the baby pool holding baby and dangling my feet into the baby pool while talking to DS.

I then walked away from the baby pool with baby to get a towel (literally turned my back for a few seconds) and when I turned round, DS was through the barriers and into the big pool floating about on his rubber ring. I must have taken my eyes off him for less than 10 or 20 seconds. I shouted at him to go back to the shallow area but he was laughing and giggling and then suddenly he had slipped through his rubber ring and even though he could swim, he was.clearly drowning. Thrashing around in the water.
I put baby down away from the pool and jumped in and pulled him out. He was fine. No harm done.

However, the speed it all happened. From turning my back, to turning back round, to jumping in and pulling him out. All within just seconds.

Things happen fast. Kids drown fast

Our DD was pulled out of a hotel pool by a livid woman who gave us a good talking to (she was right). DD had had weekly swimming lessons but wasn't totally confident swimmer. It was 1st day of hols and I had walked around the hotel pool checking the depth markers all the way round and according to them she could easily stand in all of the pool. She was splashing and playing and I could see her. I saw her jumping up and down and I thought she was playing. The woman pulled her out, brought her to me and said she was drowning. It turned out the pool went deeper in the middle but wasn't marked accordingly.
I didn't understand until I read up on drowning, how it works and what it looks like. The guilt and shame was and still is enormous. I can't believe how close she was to drowning and that I was watching her thinking she was OK. It was many years ago now and I am so ashamed.

I remember years ago a group of drs 2 families went on holiday a private villa with pool. Mother of toddler asked other families mother to look after her little toddler while she went to get them all more drinks. When she came back her toddler had drowned. She forgave the other family. I wouldn’t have.

I think weird and creepy is good! Look how many of us still remember those videos - this kind of creepiness is the sort of thing that sticks in people's head. If it engages children's imagination they are far more likely to keep the message in mind - make things too twee and cute and they just think 'I'll never be that silly'. Scare the pants off them and they might think twice (only works on older children, obviously, and parents. Small children won't even watch).

Children should always be watched, I agree, however arm bands can also give a false sense of security.

Terrifying how many people on this thread alone have had a close call or worse.

Swimsuit colour definitely matters and doesn't necessarily translate as you think it would....

If you watch the CCTV though he leans out of the window first and then picks the little girl up and hangs her over. They didn’t believe he didn’t realise the window was open because of that. A really awful case though, that poor little girl.

I never learned as a child (took adult classes and I can swim a bit now) and it's one of my deepest regrets. The thought of not being able to dive in and save my DC from drowning has always troubled me and made me hyper vigilant around water.

I think parents of children who are good swimmers can be complacent or over estimate their child's ability. I was on holiday in Finland visiting a close friend who lives there with her 8 yo DD who could 'swim like a fish' and learned very early. My DD was not a strong swimmer at all and quite nervous in water so always made sure to remain close to me when we were in a nearby pool and not get out of her depth while my friend was trying to encourage her to go into a deeper part and insisting she would never learn if she stayed in her comfort zone😐

On the last day of our visit my friend's DD got into difficulty after swimming out too far in a lake, luckily her DH dashed into the water and rescued her. I think it was a bit of wake up call for her (my friend).

DD is now in stage 7 and attends lessons at my gym along with DS. She's the oldest in her group by far as she really was a late starter but I've insisted she continues until she completes this stage. I'm hoping she will continue as they have a swim club after stage 7 where children can continue to train for competitions. She has no interest in swimming competitively which is fine but I think the longer she stays regularly active in the water, the better.

I know how easily accidents happen and wouldn’t judge anyone unless they were deliberately not watching their child.

When my son was about 1-2 we went abroad, he was sleeping in a travel cot and we used to put him in that with some toys for safety while we got ready to go out. My husband was in the shower and I was drying my hair in the bathroom when I thought I heard the door bang. Ran out and son had escaped cot and wasn’t anywhere in the room. Was a nightmare. Basically he had let himself out of the hotel room and was found along the corridor about to get in the lift (which we did every day), luckily a couple stopped him. The pool was at the bottom of the lift.

The hotel room door didn’t lock from the inside so there was no way to stop him, so basically we hadto Watch him like a hawk. Also many balconies are easy to open which can be stressful too.

Villas with pools and multiple adults/families staying together are the worst combo.

Not quite clear who is on duty, lots of children running around and in and out, pool probably not fenced, children (and adults) not used to being around the water.

So easy to lose track of a toddler for a few seconds, a door to be left open while someone unloads the car etc.

Lots of these accidents happen when it is not a 'swim' time, it's when parents are busy doing other things.

🤣

I do think more public safety awareness messages would be a good thing (just not weird and creepy like those 70s ones!)

Even growing up in the 90s and 2000s I remember lots of adverts about safety and danger, we had those little hedgehogs singing about crossing the road. I don’t see anything like that nowadays.

Mine are 8 and 10 and I havnt taken them abroad because I'd just be on pins the entire time, it wouldn't be a very relaxing time constantly on edge watching them in the pool 🤣

This was narrated by Donald Pleasance, who as far as I know remains a highly respected actor 30 years after his death.

However, I don't see the logic of your comment. Savile fronted the safety campaign to wear seatbelts in your car (before this became compulsory) - does that make the message invalid? If someone in 1978 remembered to put their seatbelt on because of the Savile campaign, and avoided serious injury in an accident as a result, does the choice of actor make the outcome any less successful?

When I was a kid we came home one day and our dog had half hanged himself on the chord of a blind. He survived but the memory has never left me. I wouldn't ever buy blinds that had that sort of chord.

I’ve had some misses with my children and I would consider myself vigilant and sensible around water. It’s so easy to let your guard down, particularly on holiday.

Like when Rolf Harris and Jimmy Saville warned children about dangerous things?

Several people have found new ways to mitigate the risk for future use. That's a good thing and could avert future incidents occurring.

This post has reminded me of a conversation I have had this week about blind cords. Every year there are parents who want to raise awareness of the danger of them as their child has got caught and died. I just wonder why that parent didn't know as it's been years that these awful deaths have happened. I don't know if the cords aren't in a loop anymore but I've just moved into a house with blinds already there and they don't have separate cords. One has snapped and it is frustrating as I can't reach it to open and close them but I'm considering cutting them all just in case I have small visitors.