To all the dad’s out there, Happy Father’s Day from everyone at Life Saver Pool Fence! For many families, Father’s Day is celebrated with beach barbecues, fishing trips and pool parties. Before you embark on a fun-filled adventure by the water, it’s important to remember some basic water safety tips.
Fortunately, our Life Saver Pool Fence blog is chock full of useful tips to help keep everyone safer by the water.
Know How to Recognize the Signs of Drowning
Before setting foot near the water, it’s important to be aware of all potential drowning hazards. Drowning happens faster than most people think. Contrary to popular belief, drowning is also remarkably quiet. The truth is, when someone is in danger, they won’t necessarily thrash around or scream for help. Instead, they’ll often quietly (and quickly) slip beneath the waves. For this reason, it is critical that we all learn to recognize when a person is struggling in the water.
This article, How to Recognize When Someone is Drowning, will be a very helpful starting point.
Keep Your Eyes Open and Alert
One of the most important safety tips we can offer is to practice active supervision. This can happen when we least suspect it. In 60% of child drowning incidents, the victim was being supervised by one or more adults. That’s where Active Supervision comes in. This method requires that someone is keeping a close eye on little ones at all times as they venture out into the water.
You can learn more about it in our recent post: Pay Attention! Active Supervision Saves Lives.
Dad (or Mom) to the Rescue!
Do you know how to save someone from drowning? It’s trickier than most of us may realize. Far too many would-be heroes have been dragged beneath the waves by rushing into a dangerous situation without being prepared.
Read our How to Save Someone from Drowning post for some advice on how to get everyone home safe-and-sound after a fun day by the water.
Be Careful When It Comes to Floaties
At a party, it’s easy to become distracted. Even so, you shouldn’t trust your children’s lives to something like store-bought “floaties” or “water wings.” These are not as safe as they may seem. In fact, they offer only a false sense of security. Instead, you should only use a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket.
For more information, check out our post: 4 Reasons Why Floaties Are A Bad Idea.
Be Careful if You’re Hitting the Open Seas
Who is up for a fishing trip or a day on the high seas? Many families are, and who can blame them? Boating can be a blast! That said, it’s critical that we don’t forget how dangerous the open water can be.
Our recent boating post, 5 Tips for Boating Safety, will provide you with some much needed tips to keep your Father’s Day ship-shape with fun!
Use Layers of Protection for a Safer Father’s Day
Unfortunately, there isn’t a single tip that will keep us all completely safe by the water. But by staying alert and educating ourselves, we can greatly limit the chances of tragedy. Building on this idea, we recommend using multiple layers of protection. These measures combined will greatly improve your chances of a safe and delightful day by the water.
Here are a few steps we recommend:
- Add high locks to all of the doors and windows leading to the pool.
- Add alarms on the doors and windows that access the pool.
- Place an extra alarm inside the pool to warn if someone is in the water.
- An alarm like the Safety Turtle can be worn by your child as an additional safety measure.
- Everyone should be properly trained, including you. Swimming lessons should be given to your child as early as you and your pediatrician feel comfortable. Infant swim lessons start training babies to roll over and float earlier than you might think.
- Having CPR training can save a life. Make sure that anyone who may have the role of Active Supervisor is also trained in case of an emergency.
There you have it! If your family is spending Father’s Day (or any other day!) near the water, keep this guide close at hand. It’s good advice all year ’round.
