By Rabbi Yonasan Abrams of Chabad of Temecula in California
Last summer, Hashem gave my wife and me a second chance. I pulled my three-year-old son from the bottom of a pool without a pulse or heartbeat. Baruch Hashem, I was able to revive him. This was the most real moment of my life. We didn’t deserve the second chance we were given and hope that our experience will allow us to share information and create awareness that will save lives without miracles.
As summer gets underway, families are gearing up for vacations and children are going to camp. I hope you’ll consider some of these ideas and practical suggestions to keep your children safe.
Here are some shocking facts about water safety:
- Drowning is the #1 cause of unintentional death in children ages 1-4
- Drowning is the #2 cause of unintentional death in children 1-14 (teenage boys are more at risk in natural water like lakes, even though they know how to swim)
- 69% of pool deaths happen when children were not expected to be in the water.
- Drowning is silent and quick.
- Puddle jumpers are actually counterproductive in keeping children safe (they give a false sense of water safety, and train them to be in the wrong, vertical position)
Here are some actionable items and practical advice:
1. Give your children swim and water safety lessons. Many cities have grants to teach qualifying children for free.
2. Buy the children’s book “Let’s Swim Safely!” from Judaica Press and read it to your children: https://amzn.to/3vDEc03. (It’s not perfect, but it’s better than anything else out there so far). The very fact that you’re creating awareness has tremendous value.
3. Don’t stay at a home with an unfenced pool. If you are on a short visit to such a home, designate a pool watcher.
4. If you have a pool, get multiple layers of security, like fences, alarms etc.
5. The supervising adult at a pool should be taking a headcount every 15 seconds. I was standing and facing the pool when my son fell in (and no, I was not on my phone).
6. Fatigue is a real issue for supervising adults. The maximum professional lifeguard shifts are not more than 20 minutes. If you feel done, it’s ok to ask children to exit the pool area and play elsewhere while you freshen up. If you explain nicely, they’ll understand.
7. Lakes are nothing like pools. Even those who know how to swim should wear life jackets in lakes.
Wishing you all a healthy and safe summer.
Thanks for posting strong and real words. You really learnt from what happened and amazing how u are just trying to help others
Thank you so much for posting this.
For bringing awareness to a real threat! One can never be cautious enough
Thank for thr informative article. So happy your son is BH ok.
Something for people to be aware is that if someone gets water in their lungs it can be dangerous and they should be aware of the symptoms of fatigue and difficulty breathing, to prevent a dry or secondary drowning ch”v, even though they aren’t in the water any more
Ty for posting.. one other suggestion.. those who have pools parents..teenagers.or those who will be watching take a ” lifeguard course” ITS A COURSE NOT JUST TO GET FOR THOSE WHO WANT A CAMP JOB…..but for everyone who has and is around a pool … it teaches and equips one.. how to watch.. what to look out for.. prevents possible dangerous situations and most importantly what steps to take if a gd forbid a drowning or any other dangerous problems occur……
Stafe safe… rsp….a lifeguard trainer for over 40 yrs
Who can we contact for lifeguard course?
Bs’d My daughter is a pediatrician. She explained that children, especially boys, do not have depth perception until after four years old. They do not recognize the difference between the path around the pool and the pool itself; to them it all looks like one stretch which results in little boys walking straight into the water, r’l.
To a safe and gizuntten zummer
Yasher koiach
Only Simchas by all!!
Really kind of you to take the time and write this important informative article
I was a lifeguard and swim instructor growing up and I cannot tell you how many people I jumped in for (Pool and lake settings). People who “knew how to swim” and people who “weren’t supposed to be in the water” and people who “were being watched” and their “eyes were only off her/him for a second.” It happens SO FAST.
The two most important factors (as he says) that I have identified are 1) teaching everyone how to swim 2) watching/putting safeguards in place in case someone slips by/gets tired. Wishing everyone a fun, safe, and healthy summer!!!
Excellent article!!
Thank you.
As a lifeguard and swim instructor puddle jumpers not only ‘teach’ wrong body position, give false sense of security to parents, but ‘paralyse’ the arms, disabling and not allowing children to learn to use their hands and arms – which is critical to keeping their heads above water.
had better swimming lesson times for boys younger than 8…
8:30 in the morning doesn’t work for us… anybody else agree.
We would like male instructors