Heatwave water deaths - campaign required

I suppose some sort of absolutely full on heartwrenching testaments from bereaved families might just get through. But who will be funding and who would wish to do this?
To quote a friend who is a manager in Education " There are no services, we're running on fumes"

This but in schools as well as on prime time tv. And proper scary ones too - the ones we saw in 70s/80s were scary but effective.

It’s not just kids tbh. The worst/reckless behaviour I’ve seen was from men /fathers . Not only are they modelling that recklessness, but they’re encouraging their kids to join in. I sit with DD watching sometimes and tell her “see that man there? That’s exactly what you DON’T do!”. Doesn’t hurt that a few times said man came out all bloodied and struggling .

This^
I literally had a conversation a couple of days ago with DS about how you should never just jump into water without testing and getting used to it first. I did this once when I was a teen and it was one of the most scary experiences, it literally steals your breath and your body fights between breathing and staying a float. My friend was with me coaching my breathing within seconds whilst helping me float, it took so long to catch my breath.

With what money? The government doesn’t even fund glue sticks in classrooms

What about parental responsibility? If you live near a body of water where your teens might go, you should've been drumming it into them from a young age. Why does it have to be the state's responsibility to educate them about this?

I really disagree that dangerous swimming in open water is a youth of today issue. It was part of the summer where I lived as a child.

My friend went against his mum's wishes to not go, as his Dad had swam there as a kid, so I would agree that there is a teenage boy defiance there ( and it's proportionally Teen Boys), but they don't deserve to die for being utterly stupid.

I work in a secondary school. We’ve had an assembly this year on water safety. It was pretty hard hitting. I hope it gives some of the teens pause for thought. Though sadly
some
seem to think they are invincible.

While I hate making things about Covid...

Todays mid teens are the ones who missed out on School swimming. And had "normal" swimming lessons disrupted.

I did ask my 13&14yos whter they did water safety at school. They couldnt recall any.
But recently had a lesson about not accepting lifts from strangers.... they were bemused as they saw it as something you explain to younger children.

I agree though.. teenagers do think they are invincible.

There are.

the whole reason swimming is on the school curriculum (at a lot of hassle and expense to schools) is to teach basic swimming skills and make parents and kids aware that it’s a skill that needs to be learned.

there is also the float to live campaign.

https://rnli.org/safety/float

Well the ones who don’t do it must have heard it from someone/somewhere!

We pass knowledge on whether that’s by government or by person.

I believe most people who drown / die in cold water can swim. So while swimming lessons are a great idea, and swimming is a fun way to exercise, being able to swim isn’t the issue.

People, and I’d include adults as well as teens, need to recognise the dangers of cold water. A campaign about this, possibly celebrity led and using social media channels to target the ages and demographics affected, would be worthwhile.

I’m looking to sign my 8 and 10 year old up for this;
https://swimsafe.org.uk
and they will start Rookie lifeguard sessions next year.

I think the mum of a lad who sadly died campaigned and it is going to be added to the curriculum

we live on the coast with rivers and canals
i think people just bang on at there kids about not doing it but with the best will in the world they will do it
I’ve taken mine in the sea and rivers since being small taught them how to get in gradually and climatize themselves
checking depth and currents

we have a local beauty spot and irresponsible parents just let the kids in the water with 1/2 arsed effort at watching them
I don’t go now as I can’t settle it genuinely frightens me

educate them don’t try and stop them
in an ideal world they wouldn’t go in but the more you can try and manage the risk the better

as for swimming it’s a life skill but a lot of parents see it as the schools job not there’s

Also a lot of people think it just about being able to swim they couldn’t be more wrong

not to mention tomb stoning there a notice up at that beauty spot where they jump off the bridge about people killed and paralysed
snd they still do it you can’t educate stupid

They will.

I did, back in the mid 90s, and very sadly an 18yo boy I was with drowned in the deep 'pond' we visited that summer's day. Despite our efforts, we could not help him or recover his body - it took police divers something like 7 hours to find him. He was a very good swimmer but he had some sort of medical episode in the cold water.

Our fire service does put water safety videos on social media. I've seen them on Facebook and Instagram. Don't know about the other platforms.

Kids don't necessarily think the messages apply to them. They don't think it will happen to them.

If I had a teen boy I would be warning him. I think parents need to play a part. If it's hot, during school holidays and you live near a body of water then parents need to be discussing the news of the deaths.

The recent deaths will be heart breaking for the parents.

The message needs to be imprinted in childhood.

A campaign for parents to tell Dc from an early age. Telling teens is too late. They need to grow up thinking it is dangerous.

And plenty will still do it.

We lived near flooded quarry pits when I was a child and all grew up with the dangers of open / wild water almost brainwashed into us. But we were then allowed to play there unsupervised.

Likewise we had a laburnam tree right outside our back door and were taught never to touch the highly poisonous pods, and then left to it.

These days I think there is more of an emphasis on protecting children, supervising them, not exposing them to potential danger while teaching them how to be safe.

All these teens having to be rescued from the fells, lost and clueless. Never taught how to be safe, how to put critical thinking into effect, (what to think about / plan)

Splashing it across TikTok when the sun comes out is too late

I agree. Banning things doesn't stop them from happening, it just makes it more dangerous.

Telling them now to risk assess, what to do if things go wrong (float to live ect) makes it safer.

School swimming lessons should be free, government funded from year 1-9. Once they can swim they should be doing life saving skills including a few open water sessions.

I agree the issue here is mostly ignorance - most teens can swim but they massively over estimate their abilities and under estimate the risks. Regular water safety sessions in PE (where children get in the water, not just lectures) would make the world of difference.

Thr inclusion of ‘swimming lessons’ in the national curriculum but the refusal to fund it is absolutely shameful. My kids primary don’t offer any swimming lessons at all any more which they justify by ‘we checked with our current y6 and they can all swim 25m’

There are campaigns. This year’s campaign has been heavily criticised as it said do not swim in open water at all. It has since been taken down and replaced with tips about how to swim safely, as an outright ban was unlikely to be effective.

And many of these bodies of water have signs that explicitly lay out the dangers.

However, when your a teenage boy and have an unshakeable belief that your invincible, the warnings don’t mean much.

Oh and yes I think it should be normal fur kids to keep swimming past stage 5/ 6 and go on to do some kind of lifesaver training- so many kids I know give up at that age and basically just splash about occasionally afterwards. It would be good for mental/ physical health as well as potentially lifesaving.

This ^
If teenagers are determined enough to scale 10’ fences and push their way through thick undergrowth to swim in the quarry near me, ignoring multiple notices saying ‘Danger’, ‘No swimming’ etc then there’s little anyone or anything can do to get through to them 🤷🏼‍♀️

I mean people know that you can drown in water. It happens every year. There are signs by lakes and canals not to swim if they have heavy currents.

Nobody watches free view TV anymore so 90% of people would miss the campaign messages if they went on there.

We do need to fix the swimming crisis though. Too many Brits cannot swim despite it being on the National Curriculum and this needs to be addressed.

Honestly I was gobsmacked when my kids did swimming lessons at school how many kids couldn’t swim at all. This was in year 4 (so age 10) and the norm was to get a term of lessons. In fairness to the school if the kids still couldn’t do 25m they paid for another term but still some couldn’t swim at all. And let’s face it if you can’t manage 25m in a pool, if you jump into a river or reservoir you’re not going to do well.

And yes I know that cold water shock means that strong swimmers could still get into difficulty but you stand a better chance if your parents have been paying for swimming lessons for years and taking you swimming in the sea on holiday.

Maybe there could be free swimming lessons and leisure swimming for all
kids aged 5-12? Especially in lower income areas? Perhaps the cost of living crisis means some people are struggling to afford lessons. But I do wonder whether some parents would be arsed to do it- I know some parents (mistakenly) don’t consider it essential, especially in urban areas (where ironically the risks are probably higher).