‘If we weren’t outside to see it happen, she wouldn’t be with us today.’: Mom shares water safety tips after near drowning accident

“Our family had a scary situation in our pool this past weekend when Maddie (22 months) fell in while she was walking along the ledge. It happens in seconds and drowning is silent. I want to encourage you to educate yourself on water safety tips and be extra careful this summer!

I was luckily outside swimming with her and noticed when she fell in right away (but I was on the opposite end of the pool). I quickly ran to her, jumped in, and lifted her out of the water. It all happened in under 5 seconds, but it felt like a lifetime.

I’ll never get the image out of my mind. If we weren’t outside at that moment to see it happen, she wouldn’t be with us today. We are counting our blessings, and using this experience to speak up about water safety.

Drowning can happen in 10-20 seconds, and it is the leading cause of death in ages 1-4 years old. 69% of drownings occur outside of ‘swimming time,’ so we need to keep our homes and bodies of water as safe as possible.

Here are some tips:

• Supervision: No distractions when you’re at a pool/body of water. Put your phone away and assign one adult to closely watch the pool during a party/conversation (even if they know how to swim).

• Do not run inside the house, even if it’s for one second – that’s all it takes.

• Survival swim lessons (ISR), as young as 6 months old, teaches them to float when entering the water.

• Install a pool fence with a lock; they also sell pool alarms.

• Have multiple barriers leading to the pool/water – install extra locks on doors, alarms, etc.

• Keep toys out of the pool/lake (store them away from the water).

• Buy bright-colored swimsuits for easier tracking.

• Wear a life jacket in a natural body of water (not a pool). This can create a false sense of safety in pools and lead to more drownings. Do NOT use puddle jumpers!

We hope these tips help and you have a fun summer in the water. Just remember, you can never be too careful and every second matters – stay safe!”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Britt of Southwest Florida. You can follow her journey on Instagram. Submit your own story here, and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos. 

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