Do you have a pool? What you should know about water safety for children
A TikTok influencer is mourning the loss of her 3-year-old son after the boy drowned in a backyard pool on May 12.
Trigg Kiser, whose mother Emilie Kiser is known for sharing lifestyle and vlog-style content, died May 18, days after being pulled from the pool, unconscious, and then hospitalized.
As the weather warms across the country, more children will play and seek relief from the heat in swimming pools and waterways. And as happens every year, it is almost inevitable there will be more tragedies, and more families will face unimaginable grief.
Drowning is the leading cause of death among 1- to 4-year-olds. But there are ways to help keep kids stay safe around water, and to prevent accidental drownings.
“It doesn’t have to be this way; it is entirely preventable,” Adam Katchmarchi, CEO of the nonprofit National Drowning Prevention Alliance previously told Paste BN. “It's within every family's power to gain this information to keep their kids safer.”
Here is what experts recommend.
Keep pool areas secure.
Dr. Erin Muckey of the Rutgers University Hospital Emergency Department told Paste BN previously that many drownings occur outside swimming time, when no one expects children to be in the water.
So families should keep pool areas secure by installing self-closing or self-latching gates or alarms to prevent children from accessing the pools.
Be vigilant and avoid distractions when kids are in the water.
When families are spending time at a swimming pool or around bodies of water, it's wise to designate an adult to watch kids without any distractions, such as smart phones. Constant vigilance is necessary because drownings can happen within minutes, and young children especially can wander off or duck out of sight quickly.
The World Health Organization says young children are at the greatest risk of drowning, and older teens may engage in riskier behavior like drinking alcohol while swimming.
Wear the proper gear.
If you're going out on a boat, kayak, canoe or personal watercraft, make sure everyone, no matter their age, is wearing a life jacket that fits properly and is well-secured. Anyone going out on the open water should wear a life jacket, to keep safe in strong currents or deep water.
In a swimming pool, children can wear water wings or use other floatation devices in the shallow end, with a parent in tow. This can help children gain confidence while learning to swim, but they're not to be used as a substitute for supervision.
Teach kids how to swim.
About 15% of American adults can't swim, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and more than half have never taken a swimming lesson. It's even worse for people of color: More than a third of Black people and three-quarters of Latino people say they've never taken a swimming lesson.
Educating kids on water safety, and making sure they can swim, can help them stay safe around water. Organizations like the American Red Cross, YMCA, and some municipalities offer low- or no-cost swimming lessons.
This story was updated to correct a misspelling.
Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas