Florida Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Blog

More on Children's Deaths From Drowning | Clearwater Child Injury Attorney

Nineteen per cent of drownings in swimming pools occur with lifeguards present ---- more reason to make sure our children learn to swim! A report in the St. Petersburg Times says enough children drown every year to fill 4 classrooms. ---And three fourth of these happen in the backyard swimming pool.

Most of these tragic deaths happen in " good families" according to Pat Vines of the St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue Department, where parents become distracted, answer a phone call -- and it all occurs in less than 5 minutes --- unintentionally.

The article suggests the best protection is swimming lessons --- many years ago my wife and I enrolled our own children in what was at the time called "drown proofing" lessons - today, the terminology has changed - these classes for young ones are now referred to as  "drown prevention" lessons.

Last year, our 4 year-old grandaughter was terrfied to put her face in the water and now we can't keep her out of it!  
Many hours of swimming lessons by excellent certified swim instructors have helped to reduce her  fear of the water and start her on the way to some very basic water safety.

Florida law requires safety features be placed on pools. Many familes install alarms, fences, or locked doors, and yet it still happens.
 
Read this report by clicking here to get all the information you need to protect your children. --- Teaching our children/grandchildren to swim is our best defense against the unthinkable.