Accidents involving brain and spinal cord injuries involve alcohol a whopping one-third of the time, according to ThinkFirst. Alcohol clouds judgment and impairs your reaction time, so don't drink and swim. Besides helping you nix unwise risks, sobriety will enable you to respond faster if your kids need help in the water. So pack lemonade and iced tea in your picnic cooler, not beer.
Use a personal floatation device, not armbands
Water wings (those inflatable armbands you can find at dollar stores) are novelty toys, not an appropriate flotation device for kids who can't swim. If your kids are playing by the water but can't swim, the only acceptable flotation device is an actual Personal Flotation Device (PFD). Likewise, if they are in a boat, they should have the PFD on at all times – even if they can swim. The Canadian Red Cross offers these PFD fitting tips.
Guarded versus unguarded beaches
According to a recent study by the United States Center for Disease Control & Prevention, the chance of drowning at a life-guarded beach is less than one in 18 million. Most drownings occur at unguarded beaches and swimming pools. Unfortunately, the vast majority of beaches in North America are unguarded. To increase your family's safety, stick to guarded beaches.
If you do go to an unguarded beach, go to one with other swimmers. Never swim alone.
Rip currents
Follow warning signs, and exercise caution in areas with a posted rip current (aka riptide). Rip currents can occur in any body of water with wave action, which includes lakes as well as oceans. Rip currents occur when the "backwash" of waves returning outward to the lake or ocean proper after coming ashore, is pushed sideways by the wind. The water streams along the shoreline until it finds a trench between sandbars or piers or along jetties, then it surges outward very powerfully away from shore. Swimmers can drown in a rip current if they fight it – they'll tire and drown. (Conversely, surfers and lifeguards will often utilize rip currents to save energy when moving away from shore in a hurry.)
Go over the following rip current action plan with your kids:
• Avoid rip currents. Heed posted warning signs, stay 30 metres away from piers and jetties, and avoid areas of relatively calm-looking water if waves are coming in all around it – that calm area (sometimes it may also appear to be a different hue than the surrounding water) is likely to hold the rip current.
• When caught in a rip current, don't panic. It will NOT pull you under.
• Don't try to swim back to shore within the rip current. Just swim parallel to the shoreline for about 10 metres, so you can escape the rip current. Then start swimming towards shore.
Read more:
• Getting your kids in the swim
• Is your pool making your kids sick?
• Summer games for kids
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