Resources & FAQ's

What should I know of Drowning Prevention?

The topic of drowning is uncomfortable, then when you talk about child water accidents it becomes unimaginable. The reality is it happens and the more educated we are the more we can prevent these types of tragedies.

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According to the CDC every day, about ten people die from unintentional drowning. Of these, two are children aged 14 or younger. Drowning ranks fifth among the leading causes of unintentional injury death in the United States. For every child who dies from drowning, another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries. More than 50% of drowning victims treated in emergency departments (EDs) require hospitalization or transfer for further care. These nonfatal drowning injuries can cause severe brain damage that may result in long-term disabilities such as memory problems, learning disabilities, and permanent loss of basic functioning (e.g., permanent

vegetative state).

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Why is Survival Swim Crucial?

• Child drowning is not like on the movies, it is silent, and it can happen quickly. The time it takes to switch your laundry from the washer to the dryer a child can slip out of sight and fall into a body of water. Once your infant or child is mobile, they are at risk.

• The saddest part about these statistics is that drowning is preventable with the proper safety procedures are taken. With the proper training, a child can learn to self-rescue until help arrives.

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But I put my child in floaties /puddle jumpers when we are in the pool.

As a swim instructor every time we hear this, we cringle inside, however if I am honest I did too before I understood why there is the danger in floatation devices. Several things happen when you put an infant and child into a floating device in the pool:

 

1. These devices give a little one a false sense of security.

2. When we teach your child to float, we will teach them to float horizontal, when you put them in

floaties they are learning to kick their feet and float vertically.

 

Children learn from consistency and repetition. If you take them home after swim lessons and put them into floaties be prepared for regressions and for it to take much longer to break vertical habits.

 

When should I put my child in survival swimming lessons?

If you have a pool at home once your child is mobile, that is when you should you should enroll your child into survival swimming lessons.

 

I have heard stories that my child will scream the whole lesson, is that true?

The answer to that is, it’s possible. Sometimes a child will cry for a few lessons then stop and sometimes they cry for the entire program. We know that your little one is scared and that you are too. We do everything in our power to put both you and your little one at ease. There are times that nothing will soothe a child and we are trained on how to proceed in order to keep progress moving forward even through the tears. Please remember we are all there for one common goal, drowning prevention.

 

How long will it take to complete survival swim?

On average it can take anywhere from 4-8 weeks to become water confident and master survival skills. Aqua Buddies lessons are designed to be short and consistent 10-15 minutes per day, Monday through Thursday. All children are individuals and learn at their own pace, there is no way to know exactly how long it will take. Just like with any activity or lessons it takes time to develop strong efficient skills.

 

Once my child graduates the program then what?

We recommend a maintenance program if you don’t have a pool at home to practice in. Survival Swim must be maintained to keep skills sharp. As your child grows, their density and length change  and they need to know how to maintain the swimming skills they have learned. I like to tell parents that you would not sign your child up for a sport for 6 weeks and then never bring them back and expect them to be all-starts the following season, would you? Children need the practice to keep their muscle memory sharp and the skill a second nature.

 

Yearly Refreshers are also recommended after the winter months. One of the great things about Aqua Buddies having an indoor facility is that maintenance and refreshers can occur at any time year-round.

 

My parents taught me how to swim by throwing me in?

We hear that a lot from parents and we know more now than our parents did. When you throw an untrained child into the water you two things will immediately happen.

1. They will panic!

2. The will “doggy paddle” to keep their head above water. Which tires them out and that is when drowning can occur.

 

The swim-float-swim technique that we teach allows a child to build water confidence, teaches them to rest their bodies while breathing and assess the best way to get out of the water before swimming to safety.