Specialists are warning parents about widespread swim protection myths that can basically put their little ones in threat.
A single of the most prevalent myths, Olympic swimmer Ambrose “Rowdy” Gaines IV says, is the perceived protection of floaties and h2o wings.
“The difficulty with floaties is that it presents dad and mom a literal untrue feeling of stability,” Gaines, a member of the the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA), a non-gain business that encourages swimming and h2o security, tells Today.com. “You toss your child in a floatie and think: ‘Oh, which is all they want.’ It really is truly the furthest matter from the fact.”
Gaines and fellow Olympic champions Missy Franklin and Cullen Jones joined Today to discuss about swimming basic safety.
“We’re not listed here to disgrace,” Franklin reported on Right now, but “the big matter when it comes to floaties is they give your youngster a false feeling of safety. … They are not safe and sound just because they have a floatation product.”
According to a new survey done on the net by The Harris Poll on behalf of PHTA, 66% of moms and dads think that floaties and water wings maintain children secure in the drinking water, regardless of the fact that these devices are not acknowledged as harmless individual floatation units.
“It truly is a thing that was alarming to me,” Gaines suggests of the survey final results. “(A floatie) won’t instruct a little one any form of expertise for studying how to swim for the reason that they’re vertical in the water, and in quite a few instances, a floatie can pop.
“A guardian is the first line of defense,” he adds. “Enjoy your little one and in no way take your eyes off.”
Jim Spiers, co-founder and CEO of SwimJim, an aquatics schooling software, and president of the nonprofit Stop Drowning Now, agrees, introducing that the issue with floaties is that they “don’t normally get the job done.”
“Young ones can slip them off their arms, they can idea above, so it’s a big problem,” Spiers tells Today.com. “They are an help — they are not a rescue device, and dad and mom should not look at them as a rescue unit or as the babysitter in the pool.”
Mom and dad really should supervise young children at all instances in the h2o, he states.
“They shouldn’t be on their phones. They shouldn’t be on their iPads. They should not be operating,” Spiers states. “Their job is to view their boy or girl.”
Drowning is the major bring about of demise in young children amongst the ages of 1 and 4, in accordance to the Centers for Disorder Management and Prevention (CDC).
Natalie Livingston, co-founder and operator of of ALIVE Alternatives Inc, a risk management consulting and education organization, says even placing your baby in a lifejacket doesn’t ensure safety.
“Lifejackets are not a cost-free move to rest or test out as a supervising grownup,” Livingston, a 27-yr veteran of the aquatics field who has executed hundreds of accident and drowning investigations, tells Right now.com. “They should be a visible reminder of the value of your powerful supervision.”
It is really not that mothers and fathers should really in no way use floaties, Gaines claims.
“I imagine floaties are a fantastic resource that get young ones utilised to the water, but they should not be employed as a crutch,” Gaines, who leads Step Into Swim, an initiative of the Pool & Very hot Tub Alliance that encourages drinking water basic safety instruction and will work to make additional swimmers, claims. “I am begging dad and mom not to just take their eyes off their youngsters when they are in or close to drinking water.”
Floaties maintain children in a vertical place in the h2o Gaines suggests the critical is for kids to learn how to float on their backs.
“Floaties really don’t present that resource to be in a position to instruct your youngster how to truly swim, or including that lifetime-conserving ability of currently being in a position to float on their again,” Gaines provides. “Which is conclude-all for me — teaching the baby how to float on the back again.”
In addition, Livingston suggests dad and mom should not think a little one who is aware of how to swim is just not in hazard of drowning.
“We see drownings happen to folks who realized how to swim all the time,” she suggests. “People can have health-related events, can get a cramp, can get exhausted and can have an individual else pull them under.”
Understanding what drowning seems like, Spiers adds, is also important.
“Drowning is silent. It’s silent. It also does not search like a stress,” he suggests. “Drowning does not search like the motion pictures. It is not in fact yelling and screaming ‘help’ or arms flailing. If a baby or man or woman has submerged in the h2o, they’re obtaining trouble to get their breath.”
This tale to start with appeared on TODAY.com. Far more from Today:
