To ask you to warn/threaten/do whatever it takes to keep your kids out of Lakes in this hot weather

[AlexanderHamilton]

As emergency seadvices have been at a local lake/nature reserve searching for a teenager since 5pm tonight. There were three kids in distress in the water. Two got out. The parents of the third are at the lake as the search continues as darkness falls.

I‘m in Germany too. As part of their swimming lessons (at a pool) my children were taught about how to get your body acclimatised to cold water before you swim to avoid the shock of cold water, how to enter the water safely, and how you should never just „jump in“. Swimming lessons were always preceded by the whole group walking through showers of ever decreasing temperature until they were the coldest setting on the shower before entering the pool.

Hi op I think this is right near me. It's awful. The parents must be devastated

I am a very good swimmer. In a pool.

Open water swimming is totally different.

On the rare occasions I deem it warm enough to wild swim I always stay in my depth because I invariably hyperventilate when I get in and just bob about rather than going under the water as I would in the pool.

It is. It can also be wonderful. This thread makes me wonder whether we don't take the wrong approach with it here in the UK though. Maybe instead of warning people against it (knowing that warning will be ignored, esp by the young), we should invest in educating people in how to do it safely and locating places where its safe?

It's probably because open water swimming is rather a niche activity in the UK, not something that 'everyone' does.

I think there's a lot of truth in this.

If there's nowhere outdoors where they're encouraged to swim, then people won't get the experience of swimming in anything other than a pool or warm sea.

I'm in Maine and pretty much every town has a beach - sea, lake or river. There are cordoned off areas where boats can't go, rafts to jump off, kayaks to rent, a portapotty/toilets and sometimes a changing room (although usually not).

We have an 11 week long school summer holiday and most kids will swim a lot - either with summer camp (DD2 is at Sebago Lake today with her camp) or with their parents or as they get older just with friends.

Occasionally people will still drown though - I mentioned the boy who drowned last week who was at a state park lake beach with a lifeguard, in the cordoned off area, surrounded by dozens of friends and teachers, and drowned.

It’s the same scenario at the beach. Just last year, 7 adults died at Camber Sands. A couple of them couldn’t even swim but were playing volleyball as the tide came in! Council was blamed for all sorts. I don’t see kids being educated about beach safety here either - it falls on the parents, just like teaching safety in lakes falls on the parents.

I find it astonishing, given we live on an island that currents and rip tides aren’t part of swimming lessons. I went to school in California and the first thing you are taught is that before you get into the water, you sit and watch the waves and look for currents.

No - you shouldn't tell your kids never to swim in open water. Banning things is ineffective- if it is hot weather, people will swim. What you need to do is educate them how to do it safely. Open water swimming doesn't have to be dangerous, it's just that most people have no idea what the dangers are or how to mitigate them. If you want to reduce deaths in water, teach people how to swim safely.

@SinceWhenDid here’s a link to why fresh water, rivers, lakes even pools are more dangerous potentially, because the water penetrates the body more easily than saltwater. I didn’t realise this until recently. It’s the cold patches which make this dangerous so why rivers and lakes are more risky than heated pools.

www.thoughtco.com/drowning-in-freshwater-versus-saltwater-609396

There’s a few water safety tips we should probably be telling our children. One of them is ‘float to live’. If they find themselves in trouble or gasping, fight the natural instinct to swim/flail around and float on their backs until they can control their breathing, and then summon help.

www.respectthewater.com/

This really is so sad

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-44619371

Extremely sad. At least his body has been found now so the family can start grieving. The emergency services have done an amazing job.

So sad

Thanks banana, that's interesting. And the floating thing is so important.

Maybe instead of warning people against it (knowing that warning will be ignored, esp by the young), we should invest in educating people in how to do it safely and locating places where its safe?

Call your local leisure centre or get in touch with the RLSS - there are many life saving clubs up and down the country which provide excellent training.

www.rlssdirect.co.uk/course-finder/

My friend’s 8yo son drowned at a lake in hot weather. New man made lake not officially opened so no lifeguards but lots of families went before it opened. He couldn’t swim
well and he took his arm bands off.

How sad

There was advert playing at the cinema the other day which basically told you to float until you could catch your breath. I have become more aware this year, I think I may have heard something on the radio. The message is being spread more widely.

Ive just heard the news. It turns out a friend of my son was at primary school with him. Her friend was there when the incident happened.

His poor father I can’t imagine what he must be going through. I’m glad the body has been found for his sake so he can start to grieve.

A girl I went to school with and her partner died in our local river. Their dog got into difficulty so her partner went in and then got into trouble and she went in after him.....2 babies lost their parents

I have jumped in that river after my dog but did it during high summer when the water wasn’t wild. When that couple drowned it was just after heavy rain and bad weather and the river was high and really fast flowing. We had it drummer into us not to go swimming there. Someone is the local area almost died after jumping into a deep quarry where the water was 6c...,idiot!

Dark & Lonely Water should be shown in all schools from the age of 10 ish, or at least an updated version.

Just heard the news as well. What a shame. RIP Ryan.

Going to be tough on his friends and family

I regularly walk around this lake. It is a v popular and beautiful place.
I just feel so sad. Everybody i have spoken to is devastated and feel so v sad for the family and friends of this young man.
I will never be able to walk there again without thinking of this tragedy.
Rip Ryan .