Heatwave water deaths - campaign required

[aurpod1980]

I saw the tragic news of two more lives lost in the heatwave, in water.

I believe there needs to be some sort of National campaign to warn people of the dangers of open water on hot days - or any day.

so many lives lost.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0p7j3lwepo

Perhaps a compulsory school assembly then. about large open water and how cold the water is, and how to float, what to do/lookout for.

My school does this.

I think rather than more campaigns what we need is to make sure that kids learn to swim and receive some awareness of potential dangers as part of the school curriculum.

And swimming lessons are already part of the school curriculum.

But we also teach extensively about the dangers of chatting with strangers online, keeping your info/passwords private and malicious communications.

And, yet, we still have to deal with incidents every year because we're not parents and we can't be there at home to remind them and (some) kids think they're invincible and it won't happen to them and that adults are lame and out of touch, don't trust them and just want to spoil their fun. And some parents don't see a problem either.

There needs to be a campaign to get kids swimming to a high standard and encouraged to go on to lifeguard training by the time they are teenagers. This happens in some European countries. The DLRG in Germany is a good example: https://www.dlrg.de

Courses are free or heavily subsidized. There is also first aid training. Mine swims every week and to get to a level of swimming more than a kilometer and starting lifeguard training has probably cost around 100 in course fees/membership plus a big time commitment. As well as water confidence they also have respect for the dangers, particularly open water.

If you can force safety adverts into tiktok and Instagram there might be a chance of them seeing it I guess. They'd have to be bloody good and short for kids to pay attention.

We have had deaths and close calls locally.

Always at locations that have massive don’t swim signs along with other signs. Warning undercurrent not safe. Danger deep water.

People were climbing over fencing to get into the river at a particularly dangerous place the police had to be called. Again signs were on the fence.

I think you’re missing the point in that teens , especially boys, think they’re infallible. And I don’t mean that in a nasty sneering way, but they just don’t think things will happen to them, ( just someone else ), and especially when in groups will just lark around and do stupid stuff. They know the dangers but just see it as a bit if fun /laugh and nothing bad will happen.

no change here, always been like it

There are litterally stories and folk songs from 100's of years ago telling people not to swim in lakes.

Everyone knows swimming in lakes can be dangerous, but it's also really really fun, ultimately I think the education lies with parents. You can warn all you want but how many of us actually have conversations past "don't swim in lakes" instead of "here's the why people get into trouble."

Me and my friends used to wild swim every summer, we always had a spotter, knew where to avoid reeds and debris and knew which bodies of water to avoid, it didn't make it safe but it did decrease the risks.

Where we lived in the 1980s, everyone swam in the local reservoirs and lodges. I was one of the few lads that didn't, as My Mum would have gone wild. I still live in the same area, and if anything, I see fewer children and teens swimming in them. Some have improved fencing, but others are the same as when we were kids. So something has changed, hopefully.

We now live near the Fire station that has the boat that goes to drownings. Every time I see it go past, my heart sinks. That It's happened again.

We already do but there is an.issue that a 'boring' teacher in 'boring' school telling you not to have fun with your mates is unlikely to stick just by its very nature. I loathe Tiktok but do agree a big campaign on there would reach more kids and possibly be more well received.

The ones that do listen don’t need a national campaign to remind them to use common sense and caution

It's nothing to do with 'the youth of today' but everything to do with 'youth'

Youth is a reckless time, evolution has made the strongest time of our lives into one where we are reckless - because you need that to survive as a species.

However I do think we need to find ways to share information in a way that the youth consume. I remember a child being saved by 'drop and roll' after he was set alight, because he had watched it on the Simpsons.

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).

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.

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 🤷🏼‍♀️

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.

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.

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’

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.