We Will NOT Wave The White Flag!
2023 was a tragic year for fatal childhood drownings.
I wish I could pick 1 month that was better than the others. Well, I guess I could…January and February “only” had 5 drownings.
The fact that “better” still means that at least 1 child drowned each week in those first 2 months of 2023 means that it was in fact NOT BETTER AT ALL.
It is October that will forever stand out in my memory. Not necessarily because there were more drownings than usual but because there were 3 DOUBLE drownings. 3 children drowned in the backyard pool at their day care, 1 was rescued and resuscitated but the other 2 passed away and then 2 sets of twins drowned in 2 more, separate backyard pool drownings.
All of these drownings happened in California but at least 2 of them caught the attention of reporters and news writers. When drownings happen that receive national media attention, people seem to pay a little bit more attention.
I always hope that when parents across the country hear about another fatal drowning, it is the push that they need to make a commitment to their child to do better with them when they are in or around water.
Over the past few weeks I was researching to see what was happening to provide justice for 18 month old Payton Cobb and 1 year old Lillian Hanan, the 2 children who drowned at their daycare.
Both the daycare owner and her daughter were arrested and charged in the deaths of these 2 children. Thankfully, their daycare was also closed.
While looking through all the different articles, I came across a news article where the reporter stated that the “NDPA (National Drowning Prevention Alliance) and advocates say, “unfortunately, our drowning rates over the last couple of years since COVID have been heading in the wrong direction.”
Just like that.
Ho hum.
Reading this statement from the organization that is supposed to be the biggest, most vocal and change making non profit where drowning prevention is concerned, was a punch to the gut.
It was like this FACT (and a fact it is because the statistics show it to be true), is just how it's going to be. That the number of drownings is just going up and we accept that.
Well, I DON’T. I never will.
I read through the rest of the article, in search of some words that change is coming.
Some words to let me know that a solution is in the works.
Some words to let me know that the aquatics industry, MY industry, and the people who have been given the job of being impactful in eradicating drowning have not given up hope that we can turn this around.
Nothing.
It was just more of the same rhetoric, the same strategies, the same layers of protection that have gotten us to this point.
Nothing more. Nothing less. Certainly nothing new.
It almost feels like the white flag is being waved.
It’s like at this point, fatal childhood drowning is just being accepted as part of a societal norm.
They just happen. They just keep on happening. There is no end in sight.
I’m sorry. This can’t ever be seen or accepted as NORMAL!!
Fatal childhood drownings are the #1 cause of accidental death in children under age 5.
Fatal childhood drownings are 100% preventable.
There are lots of people and organizations out there who are continuing on teaching parents how to keep their children safe in and around water. I know that they are diligently reaching out and working to make a difference and yet…
IT'S NOT ENOUGH.
No matter how many children get swimming lessons. No matter how many pools are fenced, gated and alarmed. No matter how many lifejackets are available. No matter how much adult supervision there is.
IT'S NOT WORKING.
It seems like some people, entire organizations, have figuratively thrown up their hands and thrown in the towel on trying to figure out a way to change this course that we are on.
Despite all these drownings, I have yet to see or hear of anyone taking a stand and saying, “Maybe what we are doing, the message we are sharing and the way we are reaching out IS NOT WORKING.”
No new ideas.
Just the same, clearly ineffective conversation happening in the same, clearly ineffective way.
Does anyone else not see it??
In 2023, we will have lost a minimum of 220 children under the age of 5 to drowning. 220!
How is this even possible??
Something is missing. In my opinion, multiple things are missing.
All I know is that it is time to TRY something else.
The definition of insanity is to continue to do what you’ve been doing but expect different results.
Parents, if we continue to do what we have been doing, DROWNING MAY NEVER STOP.
So now it has got to be us.
WE, together have to do more so that we can do better, be better, for the sake of our children’s lives.
Over the past 12 months I have come to the point that I fully recognize the kind of change that parents are looking for to end childhood drowning, the message MUST be different.
The ways that this new message will be delivered must be different.
So, I have created a new message and I have found new ways to deliver this message and I can’t wait to show you how I hope we can finally accomplish this goal.
To finally put a stop to childhood drowning.
In 2024, I will introduce you to The Waiting Whale kids. These 5 whales, Wynter, Wes, Winnie, Wilson and Willow will be reaching out to communities to educate and empower parents with information, strategies and tools they can use to teach their children how to be safe in and around water.
The Whale kids have 3 mantras that will be shared:
#1 – PARENTS will WATCH!
This is where parents will promise their children that when they are in or near water, they will do more than supervise them, they will actively WATCH them.
No more distractions when our children are in or near water. You’ll also become familiar with the phrase, “Cell phones down so kids don’t drown.”
#2 – CHILDREN will WAIT!
Parents will teach their children that anytime there is water nearby, their children will WAIT. Wait for an invitation to enter the water only when their parent’s eyes are on them, WATCHING them.
Just as we spend so much time teaching our children things like not touching a stove top or not running out into the street, the same time needs to be given to teaching children that water can be dangerous, that they don’t go into water without an invitation and an adult’s eyes on them and above all else, they learn to WAIT!
#3 – FAMILIES will SWIM!
Parents committing to being IN the water with their children in water environments over their head and BESIDE them in water environments like the bathtub.
When children are allowed the inappropriate independence of being in water alone, even if a parent is close by, they may take that as a sign that it's OK. But at another time a parent may not be close by and that independence is asserted again but that time it could end in a tragedy.
We will also be introducing parents to The WATCHING Initiative. The WATCHING Initiative will give parents 8 things to work on, think about or remember with their children when they are near or in any water environment.
Please remember that putting an end to childhood drowning STARTS and ENDS with WATCHING.
Throughout the year in 2024 we will continue to provide you with more information, important strategies and tips as well as hands on tools that you can bring into your home and use with your children on a daily basis.
We want conversations about water and water safety to become an everyday topic, something that is woven into your child’s life as importantly as their ABC’s.
So now, to drowning, the Waiting Whales and I say THIS…
“We will NOT wave the white flag!!”
“We will NOT let you win!!”
And I truly hope that all parents will join the Whale kids and myself in this mission.
Here is to 2024 being the year that we WATCH, WAIT and SWIM.
