Drowning is a metaphor for feeling overwhelmed or suffocated as in “He is drowning in debt” or “She is drowning in sorrow.” But actual drowning, the leading cause of death for children aged one through four, is on the rise in the United States. In an average year, four thousand Americans will die by drowning, but according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control, between 2020 and 2022 this number increased to four thousand five-hundred. Many drowning victims that are able to be saved can sustain permanent and severe brain injury.
Summer is here and people are enjoying pools, lakes, rivers, and beaches. When I see a parent casually flipping through a magazine or scrolling through their phone poolside or at the beach rather than keeping an eye on their children, I want to shake them and tell them “Pay attention! Children can and do drown without making a sound, sinking to the bottom of the pool.”
When my little brother was three years old, already a competent swimmer, several kids including young cousins were enjoying the pool on a summer day. My mom was actively supervising us. She went to the other side of the pool to break up a fight. Moments later, when she turned back to my brother, to her horror she saw my brother floating face down in the shallow end. Fortunately, my pediatrician father happened to be napping inside after being on call the night before. Awoken by the sound of her shrieks, Dad ran out and grabbed him and was able to successfully resuscitate him.
My siblings and I had all been good swimmers and spent a lot of time in pools and oceans in Southern California but we really ramped it up after this near miss. According to Jewish law, there are only a handful of things that parents are explicitly obligated to do for their children and one of those is teaching them to swim. Unfortunately, 15% of Americans never learned to swim. Sadly, there are racial and economic disparities in these rates, with 37% of Black Americans unable to swim due to less access to swimming lessons. As a result, people lacking this basic life skill are not only more unsafe but their quality of life is a little poorer and their world a bit smaller for it.
It may feel embarrassing to take swim lessons as an adult, but it’s never too late to learn how to swim. For parents, here are a few tips to keep your children safe this summer, all of which provide an additional layer of protection against drowning.
1. Never let a child swim alone. Even proficient swimmers can pass out or hit their head, get a cramp, or become otherwise incapacitated.
2. Arm floaties can provide a false sense of security to a child and a parent. Floaties should not be used in lieu of swimming lessons. Lifeguards, while helpful, can also provide a false sense of security as they are watching many swimmers at a time. You are still responsible to vigilantly watch your own child.
3. Young children can drown in very little water, including a shallow bathtub or a bucket of water. Never leave a child unattended near water.
4. Install a fence around your pool if you have one. Public pools should all be fenced with the latches too high for young children to reach.
5. Start swimming lessons for your child as early as possible. It may save their life. Look for low-cost lessons at the community or municipal pool.
6. Learn basic life support in case of emergency.
7. Make your children wear life jackets on a boat. Not only is it the law but it’s also smart. If a child falls off the boat and hits his or her head, they could sink before you have time to jump in.
Ironically, a few years after my brother’s near-death experience in the swimming pool, Dad himself drowned in the ocean while scuba diving in Avalon at the age of thirty-nine. So, is the moral of the story not to get into the water because you might drown? Not at all! We need to literally and figuratively learn to swim and teach our children to swim because life’s waters can be unexpectedly choppy or deep.
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