Children drowning on holiday.

[Nextdoormat]

Another week where in the news a poor toddler (2) has drowned on holiday. Devastating for parents. I am not casting blame or being goady, but how can we make it clearer that someone needs to watch a child 100% of the time if near water.
As a single parent I did take my kids on holiday where there were pools but they always had arm bands on when they couldn't swim properly and I never took my eyes off them, so no reading a book, snoozing, chatting and being distracted.
Perhaps it was easier when I had sole responsibility. Once my DS2 at the time aged 4 was just walking by the pool and another kid just pushed him in at the deep end. I jumped in fully clothed with sunglasses on and pulled him out, if I wasn't watching I could have been that parent grieving.
My heart goes out to the parents, what was supposed to be a holiday making memories turned on it's head.

I work in a hotel pool and parents who let their kids come down to the pool unsupervised is a common occurrence. But I would rather be the mean lifeguard than have to do a rescue.

Also when you are buying kids swimwear can you look at bright colours as some colours seem to vanish under water and if there is a lot of people in a pool it is easy to miss someone under water in some colours.

Unfortunately, no matter how careful we are, accidents happen. I bet no parent can say, hand on heart, that their child has never e.g. fallen downstairs, slipped over, gone missing for a few minutes, cut themselves etc. I agree that it's very important to watch children around water but there can be all sorts of unexpected distractions or events that mean you have to look away for a second or two. No amount of public information advice will alter that.

I saw something online that hit hard

"If everyone is watching the kids, then no one is." Basically, everyone will assume that someone else is doing it.

You need one designated person at a time to keep an eye on them all

Children should not be wearing armbands where have people found actual official information to say these are safe?

I read news a few years ago about a child drowning on holiday, people trying to save them and the parent didn't even know about it for minutes afterwards. I'm sure there are tragic accidents, but I think a lot are down to the parents drinking too much and not watching them

I think the swimming lessons in Primary school should all be about floating and how to stay safe. They don't do enough to actually teach the kids to swim so it ought to be all about safety.

The thing is, it’s water safely more broadly. Every summer there are teenagers/adults who pass away after jumping in cold water and getting into difficulties. Toddlers in pools is just another example. Either way it’s always very sad for all involved.

Terribly sad.

Stayed in a hotel recently where they gave us a room which you could access the pool from, never again, was waking up in the night worried toddler was in their bed.

In the UK we are at least quite ‘lucky’ that our climate means home pools are quite unusual.

Unfortunately Ive seen this in action, as I live in Spain.British Parents and grandparents at the beach necking beers and young children/ toddlers playing in the waves. Madness.

I spoke to a mum on holkday and she told me about her best friend who was packing up their suitcase. Bad a ground floor next to the pool, thought the door was locked but the small child unlocked it and headed for the pool and drowned. I know of another child that drowned at a busy water park, 3 gear old went with the parents and they were in thr restaurant area, kid made a run for it striaght into the deep end of the water slide deep pool, situatated near the open restaurant area, which should have had a lifguard, but noone saw him and after searching for him found him meters down at the bottom. I have been to the same water park and it was so busy I can see if tour child slipped through the crowds you would take too long to get through and work out which direction they went in.
We had a near miss on holiday, my 5 year old was sitting on the shore line, my 9 hear old paddling up to his knees. I waded in to tell him to come back closer, turned around and the 5 year old was gone. I frantically searched in the ocean and felt such dread and fear that I will never forget it But he had actually gone up the beach and was by the bar. It really was 2 seconds that my back was turned, no more than that and he had disapeared.

It is so tragic, the only way to ensure complete safety is to not go near a pool or the sea.

It’s so sad. I suspect there are many near misses. My very sensible SIL and BIL were unpacking on arrival at their resort when SIL happened to look up out the apartment window and saw nephew (6) struggling in the pool. BIL managed to run and dive to get him out. SIL said how lucky they were - they hadn’t noticed he’d wandered out.
An excited child on holiday and a moment’s distraction is all it takes.

Surely it happens more on holiday because there’s more water and more swimming???

Its hard to drown in the average UK park or back garden, but much easier to drown when you spend 7 hours a day next to the pool or the sea on holiday…

This came with a paddling pool from Aldi a couple of weeks ago. It will be packed in our holiday bag.
Last year a child drowned in the water park attached to our hotel . They slipped behind a waterfall rock thing and drowned.
I will always rather be over vigilant and neurotic when it comes to water

I have a pool. They are beyond dangerous, I think anyone not used to being on constant high alert doesn't realise the danger. Small dcs who can swim can and often do go into shock if they fall in and sink without making any attempt to swim to the surface. I have literally stood at the pool side blocking guests dcs from coming near and loudly told their parents 'open water hazard!!!'. Now if we have a party I make sure there is always one adult by the pool just watching the water.

On a related note, do not buy your dcs blue swimwear. Put them in something bright, like orange or red. A child underwater wearing blue is nearly invisible from poolside. Unless someone was actively scanning the water for them they wouldn't see them.

I’ve just come back from 2 weeks abroad at a family resort and it was absolutely alarming how many parents were totally oblivious as to where their little ones were or what they were doing.

To be clear im not talking about 10 seconds here and there while parents are tending to other sibling/getting something out of a bag. Quite frequently 15/20 mins would go by with no sign of adults. I got the impression lots of the parents just assume ‘somebody’ would watch them and weren’t particularly bothered who as long as they could sunbathe.

I also think we need more lifeguards as a requirement pool side or by kids swimming areas . The awful accident at Liquid Leisure is a case in point. And don't get me started on Aqua Parks...

Everyone with adult children misses lots of stuff about having small children, in some ways. However, now mine are grown I don’t miss our careful rotas on holiday, which required one parent to have active eyes on at all times. As well as not letting them get in any way out of their depth.

My point is, it’s exhausting but it MUST be done.

First seaside holiday with baby and toddler. Walked to the cool British beach, about 6pm. Toddler ran, fully clothed inc coat and shoes, to the sea. DH ran after him but in that few seconds toddler was knocked off his feet by a wave and head was under the water.
Who knows how much water he swallowed, was any ingested? 40 years ago I hadn’t heard of secondary/dry drowning.

Fortunately he was fine, albeit soaking wet.

I am not casting blame or being goady, but how can we make it clearer that someone needs to watch a child 100% of the time if near water.

Except you are.

People know this.

We don't know the exact circumstances of this.

With the best will in the world, accidents happen, people are not infallible.

Years ago my boss and her family were all on holiday in a villa, they noticed there 2 year old wasn't in the house, wife thought he was upstairs with her husband and vice versa. Luckily someone else in the house spotted him and he walked onto the pool cover and went straight under, they were very lucky and he was fine but they did say how close it had been as if the other family member had not seen him go under it would have been too late by the time they checked the pool.
Unfortunately no matter how careful you are accidents do happen.

Whilst you were saving one the other could have drowned because you would have been distracted and unable to have eyes on both (through no fault of your own).

I had holiday cottages and would have loved a pool but parents were so irresponsible I just felt it wasn’t worth. Someone let their 2 year old come round to my garden, so completely out of sight and hearing, and crap in my garden.

It's so terribly sad OP. I do think people massively under estimate the risks around water.
I was in a swim team for years & trained as a lifeguard. I can always remember one test where someone had to jump on you like they were panicking and you had to keep them away / get them off... While wearing clothes and shoes in deep water. It was bloody hard.
Or 20 lengths swimming while carrying someone.

I think people need a greater respect or awareness of water.
(Unlikely) But mandatory water safety in schools would be amazing.

A lot of pool accidents happen not because children are poorly supervised swimming but because they access the swimming pool without adults being aware of this, i.e. the adults think the child is sleeping. Too many parents who are careful, diligent parents have lost children this way. Pools are dangerous.