With the arrival of summer, many parents plan to go to the sea or the pool with their children with a lifeguard course. It is one of the plans that children enjoy the most during the summer season, but it is also one of the most dangerous. It is enough to lose sight of a child for two minutes for him to die by drowning. In fact, it is estimated that drowning is one of the three leading causes of death in children under 14 years of age, especially in the summer, when the number of children under six who drown triples.
The worst thing is that, in many cases, the parents do not realize that the child is drowning, so by the time they do, it is too late. What happens is that, contrary to what we usually think, the little ones do not warn when they are drowning but plummet to the bottom quickly and silently.
Why do children drown without warning?
On average, drowning lasts between one and two minutes. During that time the child struggles to try to breathe and stay afloat, but in many cases, he does not succeed because his movements are still very disorganized and his coordination has not yet fully developed.
In such a case, your reflexes are what take control of the situation, urging you to move your knees, your point of impulse and flexion, to try to get to the surface. It is an involuntary survival movement that starts as soon as the child begins to drown and that does not attract much attention since it is often confused with his natural instinct to stay afloat in a normal situation.
In fact, virtually no drowning child calls for help or makes sudden, jerky movements that might attract attention. In most cases, the little one tries to get to the surface on their own. Hence, child drowning is known by the nickname of silent death.
How to prevent a child from drowning?
Prevention is the best way to prevent a child from drowning. For this reason, the World Health Organization suggests that parents do not lose sight of their children when they are in the sea, a swimming pool or even in the bathtub at home. Any distraction can be fatal, in fact, it is estimated that around 30% of children who have died by drowning did not have parental supervision at the time of the accident. However, there are also other measures that parents can take to reduce the risk of their children drowning.
- Make sure your child is in a safe place. If he is on the beach, see that he stays close to shore, where he can easily bottom out. If he is in a pool, it is advisable that he does not leave the area intended for children.
- Respect the warning signs on the beach. If these indicate any danger, it is better not to let the child bathe since even near the shore the risk of drowning is quite high.
- Teach your child to swim as soon as possible, as knowing how to swim has been shown to halve the risk of drowning. You can also explain some safety measures in the water and alert him to dangerous games such as drowning.
- Put on floats or approved life jackets, especially for younger children. However, do not trust. Water safety systems should not replace adult vigilance.
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