This is an educational post from your friendly neighborhood pediatric nurse.

During summertime, pediatric nurses are confronted with an increasing incidence of preventable injuries— the biggest one in my opinion is drowning.

It is not uncommon to get pediatric near-drowning cases in the summer. Obviously, more kids are playing in large bodies of water whether it be a shallow baby pool, regular pool, lake or ocean. Kids can drown in very shallow water. Also, just because your child has passed a few swimming lessons doesn’t mean they won’t drown. Kids in open bodies of water should be wearing life jackets.

The classic set-up is a party where there is some type of pool where all the kids are enjoying themselves. The adults are drinking and socializing and no one is watching the children play. Some adults feel that the older kids can keep an eye out for the younger ones— I cannot scream enough at the top of my lungs how patently false this is. If you have a teen who is a certified lifeguard and is tasked with watching the children in the pool I might agree. Otherwise, no.

At any party where kids are swimming, including a little tiny baby pool, there needs to be a sober adult who is watching the children AT ALL TIMES! I truly cannot express this enough. Drowning can happen in a minute or less. You cannot merely check on them every ten to fifteen minutes— that can be too late.

Also, drowning may not look like drowning and I’m including a couple of videos that highlight the point.

Enjoy the summer, but be safe! Keep an eagle eye on those kiddos enjoying the water.