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

I completely agree. I’m still terrified of getting electrocuted on a pylon! The problem is that so many parents would moan their child is traumatised and how dare school risk upsetting their child. I work in a primary school. A new member of staff recently said to me that they were shocked at the behaviour of parents and they had no idea how much some parents complain and make our lives difficult.

Well they have the Donald Pleasance ad in the can, excellent little bit of film with retro charm - worst case they could just put it out on TV and on-line.

I remember when at secondary school, this would be about late 60s, we had to go to the local swimming baths where we had swimming lessons and we had to take a pair of pyjamas with us that we had to swim in and do a width of the pool with a teacher supervising us one to one.

All the kids had to be able to swim back then, I could swim already thanks to my mum and dad as we lived overseas when young but lots of the kids in my year couldn't.

The pool was outdoors, it was a big pool too and was really cold.

Probably a really good lesson in how much harder it would be to swim in clothing if you fell or jumped in the water, sea/river/canal etc.

Unfortunately I do think this is another area that has been squeezed to the bones because of money , and the first ones to suffer are the teenage boys who listen to no one.

but unfortunately schools do the absolute bare minimum regarding swim lessons (not because it isn’t important, but because they don’t have any money at all - TA S are covering cleaning after school where I am as we no longer have a caretaker- and a massive amount of parents won’t make a contribution (interestingly it’s never the parents you would expect) so they can only do the minimum and kids are not learning to swim)

in addition the current teenagers where about 9/10? During peek covid , swimming lessons where cancelled for a long long time , and I have a feeling a few never went back.

also I don’t think the emphasis is put on the importance of swimming lessons any more (generally) and its viewed as a nice extra curricular activity, that sadly a lot of families can’t afford or choose other things instead.

sadly as with the vast vast majority of things , it all links back to money

"the youth of today" is also the youth since time began. Kids do stupid things.
No, they don't deserve to die from it, but they always have done since time immemorial.
We can't stop humans being humans in every instance.
ETA. I grew up on the Thames and we were all taught how dangerous it was. Didn't stop a school friend deciding to swim home from the pub one evening, aged about 17, and drowning on the way.

We are in the Lea valley park (north out of London) and every single body of water - and there are a lot - has permanent signs saying do not enter the water. And warnings. And do not go on the ice. I’ve heard a lot this year about water deaths so I agree there are campaigns but like lots of things people don’t think it will happen to them. It’s always so sad.

I think we need

• more swimming pools (especially outdoor pools) - then more people have the option to cool down in a lifeguarded pool. The need to cool off in water is a very primal one

• swimming lessons for all children through school. One of mine had no school swimming lessons. One only had about 3 (obviously I paid for them to have lots of lessons but not everyone can do that).

• if there are known lakes where there are issues then paying for patrols

• adults who see stupid behaviour having the guts to speak up - I live near the coast and if I see teens swimming in a spot I know is dangerous I go and speak to them. They do actually listen! But most adults just post a moan about it on Facebook instead

The RNLI says 15C is where cold water shock begins.

I do always wonder how people drown if they can swim. It's not like the Thames has big waves and tides. Did they get cold-water shock?

It's been particularly bad this week because water is colder in an early heatwave and it was in the half term

I remember two train drivers coming to talk to us about rail safety at secondary school. They did not hold back on any gruesome details. I have a very healthy level of fear around railways now.

Maybe something like this but for water safety. Get the fire brigade/coast guard/RNLI in.

I was brought up in the Lake District and don’t recall a single one of my classmates dying by drowning in lakes. These are city kids that get no proper instruction as to outdoor activities. The issue is about outdoor activities and education as to the dangers. Plus their parents are probably equally as ignorant to the dangers.

Well this too. I can't swim. Yes I have tried to learn MANY TIMES, has lessons at school and so on, can't do it. I used to go to the beach as a child, take boating holidays on rivers as an adult and so on. Even as a teenager I knew to be careful because I can't swim.

another good point "Oh it won't happen to me-itis"

I am not sure a campaign aimed at only this is the answer. We have to remember that teenagers are 'hard wired' to take risks, research shows it is literally in their biology. Risks are varied and can be positive - a sport, playing an instrument in front of folk, a new friend group, behaving or dressing differently etc. But it can also be negative - often teens reach for drink, drugs, sex... The issues here fore me are so many children grow up without learning the skills and emotions of risk management, and so many children grow up without the appropriate feedback loop around risk taking that enables them to apply it elsewhere. We have to enable children, from a very young age, to experience and manage risks and fear. We cannot wait for that to happen when it is teenage years, when the risks they face increase in consequence exponentially - things like being dared to jump off things, being handed a drink at a party, being offered a lift in a car with a new driver...

But please not another very specific campaign or warning that deep water is always dangerous. I have spent my whole life swimming, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, gorge walking and more, both for my own fun and teaching children and young people that outdoor sports are fabulous, that nature is wonderful and healing place, and that adventure and risk is good for us all.

I also think that if there is any campaign it is about more swimming lessons for all children and more access to the natural world.

I know this is a bit off topic, but bear with me. My PP, I mentioned the "Charlie says" public information cartoons. I do think they would still work.

It's taken me a bit to find, but this is an Amnesty International one about informed consent, a clever modern one that gets the message across.

Do we have infrequent heat waves? I feel like we have a ‘heat wave’ every year for about 4 months of the year, at least in the south east that is

IMO boys must be programmed to take daft risks.

We were once in the car, waiting at a level crossing, gates just closing, when 2 teen boys - on bikes! - dodged through the closing gates, making it by the skin of their teeth. 😱

Dh said, ‘I’m glad we’ve only got girls - boys are so bloody stupid!’
He is one of 4 boys and did plenty of stupid things himself, so he should know!

A pp said what about parenting but some teens don't tend to take any notice so yes i agree we need some kind of public warnings on tv like the old 'charlie said' campaign which we all remember.

We see lots of signs warning about risks of smoking and obesity let's see ads on the telly pointing out what happens with cold water shock.

If it prevents one tragic death it'd be worth it. My heart goes out to the families of those sadly drowned in recent days.

Only one other child in my daughter’s year could already swim at her school swimming lessons.

When her school entered into the local swimming garla which is supposed to be for year six students her and her class mate where picked. From year 4.

That’s how bad swimming seems to be locally.

My 11yo DS had the RNLI come into school a couple of years back to talk about water safety and float to live/ the starfish. He was interested in it so we looked up more about rips etc.

I’ve been showing him the news articles about water related deaths since and we’ve been talking about them. Some might not agree with it but I don’t believe in shielding children, especially when it can provide a valuable lesson. So he’s fully aware of the dangers. 11 deaths in a short space of time recently!

I don’t believe not being able to swim is the issue; I think the confident swimmers are the ones who tend to go in thinking they’ll be fine because they can swim. There are various other factors at play. Cold water shock is definitely a thing, especially in warm weather, unseen hazards under the water etc https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjepg7vkzwwo

On the other hand if they know they can't swim they won't get in the water in the first place.

I'm not suggesting learning to swim is a bad thing but false confidence definitely is and it's the cold water that kills not the swimming ability.

I agree with OP. I remember all the safety campaigns when I was young, including one about not swimming in lake and reservoirs. There are almost none now.
The only one that springs to mind is one by a charity about adopting the starfish position in case of trouble in water, but that is not the same as educating young people not to enter the reservoir/open water in the first place.
I think as adults having been educated by such campaigns in our childhood and the knowledge being second nature, we forget that this information is not acquired at birth by children and needs to be drummed into them, in the same way as it was into us.
Sadly, the previous governments left all this kind of campaigning to charities or schools rather than a public-funded national-level initiative, so a lot of safety campaigning fell by the wayside or was too expensive for charities to, for example, run adverts on TV, as the government used to do in our own childhoods (most memorably the green cross code).

I really don’t think this is something you can blame Covid for. This has happened for years and years. As someone else pointed out deaths are actually lower than they used to be. I imagine most of these teenage boys can swim ok. But the problem is they just don’t listen to warnings. Teenagers are well known for thinking they are immortal. It’s nothing new. I’m pretty sure I was the same but I was definitely less risk averse overall but I still did silly things. I remember riding as a passenger on a moped thing with a boy I’d just met when I was 18 in Ayia Napa. No helmet etc. Just hanging on to this random guy on the back of a bike. He was going really fast and I do remember being a bit scared but it didn’t stop me at the time! I guess I wanted to be seen as cool. Stupid yes but it really is just what some teens do! I also remember getting in to random cabs after clubs. I don’t think most were actually cabs. Just random men with cars. My mum always told me never to do that. Did I listen? Not at all.

You should see the behaviour of some teens near me. They deliberately ride bikes (younger ones on pedal bikes older ones on motorbikes) on the wrong side of the road towards traffic and do wheelies at them. So cars are having to stop dead in the street while the boys ride wheelies around them laughing. Occasionally they’ll even bang on the car and shout obscenities if they think the car didn’t stop quick enough! Only last week one boy (looked about 13 to me on a normal bike) was yelling at a woman in her car “Oi bitch you trying to kill me or what?? Fucking bitch. We’ve filmed you trying to kill me bitch!”. They wouldn’t move out the road for ages to let the cars past. Do you think these boys would listen to an advert telling them not to dive into cold water?

I don’t think adverts would do much. I guess if it warned some it’s better than none. But most people don’t watch adverts. They’ll skip them or turn the volume down etc or just ignore them. Then as others have said parents would complain that their kids were being shown things too graphic etc. Unfortunately I honestly don’t think you’ll ever be able to stop it happening.

There should be more safe swimming areas open to the public. Swimming pools are so expensive and difficult to navigate booking into.