To think water and wildfire safety and education need to be made mandatory?

[TheCactusSpokes]

We are well aware our climate is changing yet there appears to be very little action from the government to educate children on the impacts of both water and fire, and the associated education on how to stay safe with both of these?

I'm just wondering at what point the loss of human life and environmental destruction we've already seen tips to a point when the government will actually start educating the general population (mainly kids).

Just as important, knowing when not to enter the water.

We were taught about climate change, or global warming as it was known then in the mid 80s! The rainforest destruction, the ozone layer.

Also made to watch videos about whale flencing, seal clubbing, fur farms and vivisection labs.

We had to sing songs about ice caps melting and the temperature rising. I guess this was a pretty out there primary school?

Strangely they were happy to serve mystery meat for school dinners!

Or maybe we should screen for ignorance pre conception? Parents don't know the rules themselves is utter bollocks, they are thick, stupid, careless, entitled... My DD knows you don't go and swim in random lakes because I've told her that; if she chose to, it was a choice she made, through stupidity, not lack of education.
Maybe just give babies to schools, we'll do all the parenting and give them back when we've parented and formally educated them.

Good god, why do some people expect "the government" to teach children things that are part of basic parenting.

With all the fires and drownings in the news over the past very hot months, any parent whose children are old enough to go out and about on their own, should surely have had discussions about water and fire safety, not dropping cigarette ends and matches, not lighting barbecues or fires on grass etc.

Any parent who doesn't teach their child to swim is negligent in my opinion, it's an essential life skill.

I didn't grow up here and wasn't born in the 70s - I'm quite a bit younger but on Australia they had very hard hitting drink driving adverts run by various transport orgs, I didn't spend a lot of my childhood their but I still share them with friends here I know who are drinking and driving.

I got caught in a rip when I was ten when I was on a holiday and it was scary but it wasn't life threatening because I had been told what to do since I was seven through school. Was probably more frightening for people on the beach watching me surf.

Drowning prevention is not about knowing how to swim. Many many people who drown do know how to swim they just don't know how to assess the risks of where they are swimming or what to do if they are caught in a water-dangerous situation

And because people aren't taught this the first response is to panic which is the worst thing to do

As a secondary teacher we do teach them water safety as part of the tutor programme and PSHEE. For a lot of teenagers it is in one ear and out the other!

Not sure about fire safety but there are a lot of things we cover in school that people claim we don’t. You can see on here people saying they were never taught about the inside of a plug when that has been on the science spec for many years. It isn’t relevant to them so they don’t retain it - only human.

This thread is actually demonstrating my point - drowning isnt prevented by teaching someone to swim.

So when you lived in Australia were you living by the coast.?

It seems to me it's the parents that need educating as much, if not more than the children.

Most children will have swimming lessons and be able to swim in a pool, but open water swimming is a whole different ball game.

It's my job as a parent when we go to the beach to make sure it's lifeguarded, to ensure they swim in marked areas and listen out for any announcements and to supervise my children myself.

Unfortunately some adults just don't seem to risk assess very well and there's a very high price to pay if it goes wrong.

It is. It’s throughout the national curricula at primary and secondary across several subjects including geography, science, pshe. And all schools have to have climate action plans.

whats the issue? And one of our big problems is parents who still say it’s not real or who think we’re trying to destroy their livelihoods

Oh, and parents dropping their kids at local wild swimming areas and leaving them unsupervised there days after local tragedies.

Yes absolutely most people who drown can swim. It's the cold water shock which is an issue and not knowing the float to survive drill. In British waters cold water shock (or getting quickly hypothermic) is a real issue.

I do actually think a public information campaign would be good. We're an island nation, water is everywhere. Yes there are lifeguarded areas but e.g. Nowca facilities are relatively expensive and inaccessible for lots of people whereas the sea/random reservoir is free. I grew up by the sea and we did a lot of stupid things and am amazed no one drowned.

In 1994 swimming and water safety training was made a mandatory part of the primary school curriculum explicitly with the aim of preventing drownings

https://www.swimming.org/schools/swimming-national-curriculum/

it may be the case that teaching people to swim doesn’t stop drownings but many centuries ago the first swimming society in the U.K. was set up explicitly with aim of preventing drownings.

in medieval times very few people could swim and it was common for a boat sinking not very far out from land for there to be few survivors.

now, a decent percentage of the population can swim 25 meters and what is more the issue now is assessing water safety,

on beaches this is largely dealt with by having lifeguards and a flag system in the summer, along with notices near the beach that warn of any dangers

there is now a drowning prevention strategy as well

https://nationalwatersafety.org.uk/strategy

Oh and more things like this https://www.royaldocks.london/whats-on/royal-docks-summer-splash

There have been a number of drownings in Docklands.

How old are your children? What you say is obvious to most (all?!) parents but it’s not mostly not children who are being supervised by parents who are drowning, it’s unsupervised teens. Will you be accompanying your teens every time they go anywhere until they’re 18?

It is taught. The problem is ignorant / gobby parents who don't reinforce it or have enough intelligence to understand how monumentally stupid the risks are.

So you're just going to ignore the comments telling you that it is on the curriculum?

Actually a booklet of essential life skills or British information does not sound like a bad idea!! I agree with you about the demands on school time.

But no one watches one channel and certainly not live you would have no idea who has seen it and who hasn’t.

Actually a booklet of essential life skills or British information does not sound like a bad idea!!

How many would actually read it?

Good question.

It is a shame that we have lost nation wide information-sharing capability. Thank goodness for bbc radio.

It is a shame that we have lost nation wide information-sharing capability.

Yes, in the past most people would read a daily newspaper and/or watch the main evening news, and maybe the early evening regional news, so everyone would know the main news stories.

A lot of people would have their weekly local paper too, and be informed about local issues, such as the danger of swimming in the quarry or jumping in the river.

And people talked to each other!

It may be obvious but it doesn't mean people do it. And it's not just teens who are dying in open water. A 60 year old man and his 30 year old daughter drowned in Cornwall on Sunday, the same day a 55 year old man died in West Wittering and another adult he was with was rescued and thankfully survived. Those are just the ones I'm aware of because they were on the news last night. I would imagine on the coast that very often it's people who are visiting and aren't familiar with the water conditions in the area who are most at risk.

As for your questions, yes I have teens. Yes they do go with friends to other places/countries without us, but I imagine they will still be visiting the coast with us when they reach 18 too and I'll still be looking out for them then.