Water safety tips

By Stacie Gaetz

The weather is warming up (thank goodness!) and if your household is anything like mine, that means the calls of “Mom, can we go swimming?” and “Let’s go to the splash park!” will become regular occurrences.

Whether you are at a pool, splash park, or natural body of water, it is time to remind your children about water safety – because their lives could depend on it.

There is no need to scare your kiddos, but you should make sure that they are paying attention and there are no distractions when you go over swim safety rules with them.

Here are 5 tips to help keep everyone safe in the sun this season.

Back to the Basics

Whether your children have had formal swim lessons, or you have taught them how to doggy paddle yourself, it is always good to remind them of the basics. Talk about and even practice how to keep their heads above water, rolling on their back, not running near water and how to get in and out of the body of water safely.

Excellent Equipment

Make sure that any floating device you use is approved by Transport Canada, Canadian Coast Guard, and/or Fisheries and Oceans Canada. A proper life jacket is always preferable to a floaty or water wings. If used incorrectly some personal floatation devices can actually be a detriment as they give children a false sense of security and teach them to float in a vertical fashion (which is not how our bodies naturally float).

Fit is also very important. Ensure that they are using the correct size for their weight and that it fits snuggly to avoid them slipping out during an emergency and never let a young child put the device on by themselves without you checking it.

Brighten Up

This is one that I recently learned myself. It is important that you put your children in brightly colored swimwear that is not green, blue or purple. These colors blend in with the water and can be hard to see. Colors like yellow, orange and red are much more visible and easier to spot quickly if a child is in distress.

Read the Rules

As exciting as it can be to dive right in as soon as you get to the body of water you have chosen, it is important to talk to your kids before you arrive to let them know that you will reading any signs around the water together to ensure everyone understands the rules. If your children can read, let them tell you what the signs say and even say it back to you using different words so you know that they comprehend what the signs mean.

Also make sure you establish and talk about any family rules that you might have, such as the requirement to tell an adult every time they go back in the water and not swimming past a certain depth/marker.

Supervision Saves Lives

No matter how well you prepare your kids or how long you talk about water safety, there is no substitute for adult supervision. If you are in a group, designate a certain person to watch the kids at all times and switch out who this person is often. Ensure that this person has no distractions and has their full attention on the kids at all times.

When tragedy strikes, it is often because adults assume that other people in the group are watching.

It is a frightening thought but, in Canada, drowning is the No. 1 cause of unintentional injury deaths among children 1 to 4 years of age, and the second leading cause of preventable death for children under ten years of age.

Make sure your family is protected this summer by reminding your family (and any other caregivers) about water safety before you dive in.