As a near-drowning victim as a child myself, this story really hit a nerve for me. The article, The Unthinkable | My Family Travels talks about the tragic drowning death of a 4-yr-old child in a cruise ship pool. I encourage you to read the whole article, it’s very well-written. I have a feeling that if I were to have written it, I might have a hard time restraining myself and staying calm.
I definitely would advocate for putting lifeguards on ALL pools, whether they are adult pools or not, if only to ensure kids don’t go into the adults-only pools.
My own son, who is a decent swimmer at age 9, still looks at the depth of the pools he’s about to enter and if it’s over 4 feet deep, he wears a vest, which I am grateful for.
There was backlash against the parents for being inattentive. But we can’t assume that’s the case. Water is just dangerous. I have only one child and I have such a hard time going to a pool or lake with other families because I want to keep a close watch on my child. It’s so easy to lose track of which head is theirs if you look away for a second and are not in the water with them. I don’t know how I would keep track if I had 3 or more kids. However, I shudder when I look at the pool chairs and see parents enjoying a book or whatever and not watching their kids. It is so scary to me. In my case, as a child, I was pulling myself along the edge of the pool while my mom was talking to a friend in a pool chair not 10 feet from me. However, her conversation was very engaging, and she never saw me go under 3 times when I drifted too far from the wall. I always say it was only the hand of God that pushed me back to safety and let my toes grab what little ledge there was.
So I’m curious as to how you all feel about this topic. Have you had any close calls near the water? Please read their article and come back here and let me know what you thought. And thanks for letting me vent a little.
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