On the heels of the pool thread...

I would guess many of us don't understand how drowning happens. Like I used to think that you had to be submerged for a long time to drown, but it seems from actual stories in these discussions that a child can simply take in too much water and not be able to expel it all- that the breathing can't always resume on its own even when they aren't underwater that long and you get them out? I hate to sound stupid but I'm getting the impression that drowning can happen in different ways? If so, I think an article that really explains this would help immensely. I also think all pools should be REQUIRED to send this kind of information to parents. Like my sister has a pool at her condo and often takes my daughter (6), and she is a good watcher but I know she could converse with another adult or get distracted for a few seconds, and now I'm thinking I'd like to have specific information to give her and maybe I really shouldn't be letting anyone else be responsible for my child at a pool until she's older.

When I was nine months pregnant with my son we went to the lake to watch the fire works on the fourth of July. There were hundreds of people there and a quite a few of them were in the water. Now where we were was up on a ledge, and you had to climb down to the water and nearby was a cut out in the ledge and the water would rush in pretty fast. Some kids and adults were in the cove area playing on boogie boards in the waves. All of the sudden a man comes running up out of the water carrying a little boy probably about 7 years old. He's screaming "He's not breathing! He's not breathing!" Well everyone starts panicking and running around, and I don't know what came over me but I just jumped up (no small task at nine months pregnant) and ran over to them. I helped him get the boy on the ground and yelled for some one to call 911 and started doing CPR. Luckily the boy started coughing quickly and I rolled him over and he coughed the water out and started breathing. It all just happened so fast. From what I gather the man was the little boys uncle and he had been watching a large group of kids by himself. A wave had come in and knocked the boy off of his board and under the ledge. It had taken a minute for the uncle to realize that one of the kids was missing, and then to locate him. The mother turned up while I was giving CPR and started screaming. An ambulance showed up shortly after, and the kid and his mom got in and left.

It was really scary for me and I am just glad that I remembered my training. It just proved to me how fast something like that can happen. I still can't believe that that boys mother had left him with about 12 other kids and only one adult to watch him. I don't blame the uncle he had his hands full watching all of those kids, and if he hadn't of acted quickly the little boy probably wouldn't have made it. It is just really scary, and eye opening. Believe me I never leave my son's side when he is near the water.

I was a lifeguard when I was a teenager and we would need to have conversations with pool patrons or supervisors or other lifeguards and we would just stand right next to each other and talk but not look at each other at all. We would have to explain to a patron that we didn't mean to be rude in not making eye contact when they had a question but we could not ever take our eyes off the pool. Parents that want to converse while watching their kids at the pool might give this a try.

I also learned how to scan the water back and forth across the area I was responsible for and it should take 2-3 seconds to take in the whole scene. That way you don't get tired of staring at the same spot the whole time and you are sure to see the whole pool or your area of concentration once every 2 seconds or so. Alternate looking underwater at the floor of the pool and along the surface.

As a new school year approaches with dread according to my 11 year old dd with Dyslexia, I am reminded that Dyslexia is a wonderful gift at times. My daughter can see the big picture, when she is at a pool. The first time she pulled someone out of the water she was 6 and when she told me, I couldn't believe it. Then I witnessed her rescue her cousin who was underwater and no adults saw him because it was crowded and he was wedged between two of those long things that people float on and as they slammed together they wedged his head and then he went under and couldn't get out (he was 4 and dd was 6). She saw him somehow, then dived under and rescued him and she didn't know how to hold her breath when she went under for him. She managed to drag him and herself out of the pool. They both took in some water. None of her rescues ended up with someone not breathing, just coughing, and sputtering. There was a time that she pulled out a very small child who was under, the mom had looked away, and when she saw, became hesterical, was crying and so thankful and told her "you saved my childs life". I don't know why these rescues keep happening to dd other than she is extremely attentive to her surroundings. She may be doing the 2-3 second scan of the pool without even realizing it.