Water Safety and Swimming Tips

This Summer in Houston and surrounding areas there have been many drownings already and Summer just started a couple of days ago. I think it is important for parents and kids to know and talk about water safety before heading to any body of water even your pool. Be safe this Summer, and share these tips with your kiddos.

The USA Swimming Foundation is preparing to launch an annual cross-country water safety tour, Make a Splash with Cullen Jones, presented by ConocoPhillips, to raise awareness about the importance of learning how to swim.

Water Safety At-A-Glance:
· Each year, more than 3,400 people drown in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
· More than one in five fatal drowning victims are children younger than 14
· Drowning is the second-leading cause of injury-related death among children ages 1-14
· Seven out of every 10 African-American and Hispanic children cannot swim, according to a national research study by USA Swimming and the University of Memphis.
· African-American children drown at a rate nearly three times higher than their Caucasian peers (CDC).

When Olympic Gold Medalist Jones was five-years-old he nearly drowned - prompting his mother to enroll him in swimming lessons for the first time. Today Jones is committed to sharing his personal story and promoting water safety tips to parents and children across the county. By the end of 2011, it is the goal of Make a Splash to enroll more than one million children in swim lessons – regardless of economic status.


Five Tips for Keeping Children Safe In and Around Water*
1. Teach children to swim. It's the best way to be safer in the water. Research shows that parents are the most influential factors in whether or not a child learns to swim. Only 13 percent of children from non-swimming households will ever learn to swim, according to national research conducted by the University of Memphis for USA Swimming.
2. Make sure a responsible adult is watching the water at all times. Drowning can be completely silent, and most child drownings occur when the victim has been out of sight for less than five minutes.
3. Remind kids to always obey the rules of the pool, not to jump on or dunk other swimmers, and not to jump or dive unless they know how deep the water is.
4. Require kids to always swim with a buddy.
5. Remember, you don't have to be at a pool to drown. Lakes, rivers, large puddles and any other bodies of water also require caution. Make sure your child knows how to swim, whether or not they'll be around a pool this summer.

*Source: USA Swimming Foundation, 2011

For more information go to www.makeasplash.org.

***Disclosure-No compensation was received. Informational post only.