Digest #162: Teaching Water Safety
By Megan Sumeracki
(Cover image by Myléne from Pixabay)
Welcome to May! In many parts of the world, the pools have been open for a while, and in New England where I live, many neighbors will start opening their pools over Memorial Day Weekend at the end of the month. Water safety is not just about summer months (lakes even when frozen over, bathtubs, and buckets are all things to watch out for year-round) but when the weather gets warmer the opportunities for water play, and the need for water safety instruction, increases.
It’s not fun to talk about, but drowning is the leading cause of injury-related death in kids aged 1-4. Kids can drown in even small amounts of water. And, anecdotally many think that they will hear if their child is in danger with the water (think splashing, yells for help, etc.). But in reality, drowning is very quick and silent. This doesn’t mean we should completely avoid water play, though! Rather, teaching kids about water safety, and learning about how we can best keep our children safe, is crucial.
For today’s digest, I’ve put together resources from organizations on water safety. Brush up on these water safety tips, and then enjoy the water!
Image from Pixabay
This organization has resources for teaching water safety in the classroom! Scroll down to their educator portal, or navigate to join and select educator. It asks you to join with a membership, but I clicked through and learned that at least for educators with a .edu email address, the cost of membership is $0.00. (They state you should reach out if you’re a teacher and don’t have a .edu email address.) Parents and teachers may also be interested in their Safety Best Practices post.
Search here for an ISR instructor near you, and help your child learn survival in the water. This program believes that supervision and safeguards, like fences and pool alarms, are useful parts of keeping children safe near the water. However, they are not foolproof, and teaching your child to survive if they fall in the water unexpectedly, or end up in a water situation that they did not expect, can save lives. These are more than just swimming lessons. It teaches the kids what to do when the unexpected happens.
Image from Donnie Ray Jones (CC BY 2.0) from Flickr
3) Zero to Three: Water Safety for Children
This resource contains a bunch of facts (e.g., children can drown in less than 2 inches of water) and tips for parents on how to prevent drowning.
Image from Pixabay
4) Safe Kids Worldwide: Swimming and Pool Safety
More tips for parents on how to keep kids safe, focusing on swimming and pool safety.
5) Pool Safely
This resources again has tips for parents. What seems to be unique about these tips is a focus on pool drains!
Image from Pixabay
From time to time, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Occasionally we publish a guest digest, and If you'd like to propose a guest digest click here. Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:
Digest #157: Exam Preparation Tips
Digest #158: Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
Digest #159: The Digital Divide
