PSA. Get off your phone. Drowning is silent.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone besides me wonder why there are so few drownings? I understand that it's silent; I see that lifeguards are usually kids (!), as in, just teenagers themselves; we're told over and over that the adults who are supposed to be watching are distracted, and yet...? I just read that 350 children under the age of 5 drown in pools each year nationwide. That's tragic, of course (every death of a child is tragic, particularly the preventable ones) but I'd expect it to be a lot higher, given all that I've read about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone besides me wonder why there are so few drownings? I understand that it's silent; I see that lifeguards are usually kids (!), as in, just teenagers themselves; we're told over and over that the adults who are supposed to be watching are distracted, and yet...? I just read that 350 children under the age of 5 drown in pools each year nationwide. That's tragic, of course (every death of a child is tragic, particularly the preventable ones) but I'd expect it to be a lot higher, given all that I've read about it.

Please start a new thread. This doesn’t fit with what this one is about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone besides me wonder why there are so few drownings? I understand that it's silent; I see that lifeguards are usually kids (!), as in, just teenagers themselves; we're told over and over that the adults who are supposed to be watching are distracted, and yet...? I just read that 350 children under the age of 5 drown in pools each year nationwide. That's tragic, of course (every death of a child is tragic, particularly the preventable ones) but I'd expect it to be a lot higher, given all that I've read about it.

That’s just the number of deaths. Plenty of kids are fortunate enough to survive, and plenty of others live but have brain damage for life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone besides me wonder why there are so few drownings? I understand that it's silent; I see that lifeguards are usually kids (!), as in, just teenagers themselves; we're told over and over that the adults who are supposed to be watching are distracted, and yet...? I just read that 350 children under the age of 5 drown in pools each year nationwide. That's tragic, of course (every death of a child is tragic, particularly the preventable ones) but I'd expect it to be a lot higher, given all that I've read about it.

That’s just the number of deaths. Plenty of kids are fortunate enough to survive, and plenty of others live but have brain damage for life.

Yup. A little boy almost died at our pool last year. It took several rounds (minutes?) of CPR to revive him. He was 2 years old and very lucky.