Posted by Bobbie Sandoz Merrill on September 12, 2009 · 1 Comment
I was born and raised in Hawaii where I grew up surfing and swimming on both racing and synchronized swimming teams. I later became a lifeguard and swim instructor and even swam with dolphins and whales in the open ocean. Yet, it wasn’t until I moved to Arizona that I heard of more drownings than I had ever heard about prior to arriving here 3 years ago.
I was puzzled as to why until I realized that many of the people here simply don’t understand that there is no such thing as a ‘water-safe’ child and that no child, even one who can swim, can ever be near a swimming pool unless an adult is free to watch that child every single moment, just as a life-guard is trained to do. This is the only way a child can be safe, since drowning happens in a few short minutes. Thus, anyone who has a pool would be wise to take this black and white approach to water-safety and to never even think of cutting corners on this rule.
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