A few weeks back I made a predication about several swim stories that would be hitting the media this summer. One of them was about a focus on safety, which I turned out to be right about because a national swim safety campaign has just launched.
And now I’m right about another summer swim story that has hit the newsstands: A recent drowning. And there’s nothing to be smug about when you’re right on something like this.
An 11 year-old girl was swept away into the Pittsburg Marina on Saturday, which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. These are rough sea waters. She slipped off a jetty rock in a county park and her body was found the next day about 50 yards from where she fell. She did not know how to swim. She was attending a birthday party.
I did a search for 11 year-old drownings and I came across some very surprising, sad — and preventable — drowning stories. An 11 year-old drowns taking a pool cover off. An 11 year-old drowns while babysitter was making a snack inside. An 11 year-old drowns with three seasoned lifeguards on duty. In some of these stories, the kids could swim. In some of these stories, they were warned to be careful.
It just goes to show you no one is drown proof. It’s time for me to re-think a question I like to throw back to parents when they inquire how soon they think their child will be pool safe: When you’re ready to drop them off at a pool party with limited adult supervision, then you know they’re pool safe.
