Did you know that drowning is second only to car crashes as the leading cause of unintentional death among children. One of the hidden dangers is pool drains. Between the drains that are improperly maintained to those with faulty covers can kill, there are some steps you need to take:
- Avoid dangerous drains. Before swimming, tie up your hair so that it cannot get stuck in a drain. Tell your children to avoid the drains in both private and public pools.
- Teach swimming and lifesaving skills. I luck out that my inlaws and my husband were lifeguards. However, not everybody is that lucky. You want to make sure your kids can swim, float, tread water, and get in and out of the pool.
- Install barriers. Every pool needs an isolation fence around it.
- Be vigilant. It doesn't matter if your kids can swim. Make sure that somebody is watching them at all time. It only takes a second for something terrible to happen.
- Designate someone as the water watchdog. The Water Watchdog agrees to remain in the water with the kids, maintain constant visual contact with the kids, keeps a phone nearby for emergencies, refrains from drinking alcohol, and refrains from distracting behavior like texting or reading. You can take the pledge and receive your own Water Watchdog tag at:http://www.abbeyshope.org/
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Abbey's Hope was founded because of a little girl named Abbey Taylor. She died as a result of injuries received from an improperly maintained drain in a wading pool. I can't even type the horror this kid went through without bawling my eyes out. Basically, she was disemboweled by the suction from an uncovered pool drain. Yes, you read that right. (If you want to read the rest of the story, please go here: http://www.abbeyshope.org/
Please be vigilant this summer when you take your kids swimming. I know I will be!
