Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 2 funerals I've been to of drowning victims have been children (age 6 and 16) who were strong swimmers and with adults nearby. Both tragedies were considered freak accidents.

Unless you're the publicist or spokesperson for this family, you really should not speak as if you know anything. Because you don't.

In a pool? Or a natural body of water.

I have a hard time picturing a “strong swimmer” drowning in a pool absent a medical emergency.

Lifeguard and swimming instructor here. I could give you 50 reasons.
Wrong clothing, a suit that moved when they jumped in and constrained movement, hitting the water wrong, getting sucked into the drain and pinned there (look this up people, it is a big problem with residential pools that haven't been retrofitted with rounded drain covers) coughing from a minor irritation at the wrong moment, having a headcold, getting tangled in the hoses of pool equipment or a raft, etc...Pulking a child out and laying them on the back...They are endless. It has nothing to do with skill or ability, especially with a 3 yr old!

So frustrating, I have no tolerance for people who say the stuff that's being said on this thread...

I had to be rescued once when a rip tide carried me way out really fast, age 22. I am a super strong swimmer and had literally done a 3 mile open water timed test earlier in the week. But getting dragged out, I didn't realize how fast I was going until I realized I couldn't really see people on the shore, I was way, way, way out. The water got so cold so fast that my limbs didn't move the same way, and swimming at my hardest, I was still getting pulled out or at best swimming in place...the worst part of it was trying all of these things you are "supposed" to do, and none of them worked in that moment, and feeling the beginning of panic. Panic is the worst killer in water, and literally any small issue can trigger it...It can happen in three inches of water or a kiddie pool. it immobilized and is deadly silent.

I also have turned my back, for 2 seconds, on my own daughter to reach for a pool noodle and had her step forward into deeper water that covered her nose. She literally could have drowned within reach of me if I had been another foot or two away or distracted for another second. It's treacherous.

When you start drowning you generally do not realize what is happening. It's extremely calm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 2 funerals I've been to of drowning victims have been children (age 6 and 16) who were strong swimmers and with adults nearby. Both tragedies were considered freak accidents.

Unless you're the publicist or spokesperson for this family, you really should not speak as if you know anything. Because you don't.

In a pool? Or a natural body of water.

I have a hard time picturing a “strong swimmer” drowning in a pool absent a medical emergency.

Well, I guess your limited life experience and “pictures” dictate how the world actually works?

I had a hard time picturing a problem or the dangers of drunk drivers, until one of my dearest friends almost died being hit by a drunk driver on a Sunday morning.

I had a hard time understanding that women are sexually assaulted at work, until my boss grabbed me by the crotch in a car full of customers.

I had a hard time believing that women couldn’t speak up about abuse, until I had no voice, and the woman calling the police in the middle of the night was me.

Mostly, I have a hard time understanding how people with no hard times feel the need to point tigers and judge those with hard times, rather than lifting them up? And that applies to everything from poverty, to tragedy,

I had a hard time believing a lot of things. Life changes you, quickly, if you listen.

Anonymous wrote:My tween son felt like he was close to drowning one time during swim practice. They had "free play" and the kids were playing some sort of tag game in the deep end. At any rate, my son inhaled some water and with all the splashing around him barely, just barely, made it over to the edge where he could recover. No one noticed that he was in trouble.

He was on the swim team and a strong pool and ocean swimmer but it happened to him.

Drowning is a quiet thing. So scary.
I wish everyone safety and luck this summer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 2 funerals I've been to of drowning victims have been children (age 6 and 16) who were strong swimmers and with adults nearby. Both tragedies were considered freak accidents.

Unless you're the publicist or spokesperson for this family, you really should not speak as if you know anything. Because you don't.

In a pool? Or a natural body of water.

I have a hard time picturing a “strong swimmer” drowning in a pool absent a medical emergency.

The young girl was caught in the suction from the pool’s drain. The teen apparently slipped off the edge and hit his head as he fell into the water. Just 2 examples of freak accidents even when parents are not being neglectful.

I am so so sorry. That's painful to read.

My tween son felt like he was close to drowning one time during swim practice. They had "free play" and the kids were playing some sort of tag game in the deep end. At any rate, my son inhaled some water and with all the splashing around him barely, just barely, made it over to the edge where he could recover. No one noticed that he was in trouble.

He was on the swim team and a strong pool and ocean swimmer but it happened to him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 2 funerals I've been to of drowning victims have been children (age 6 and 16) who were strong swimmers and with adults nearby. Both tragedies were considered freak accidents.

Unless you're the publicist or spokesperson for this family, you really should not speak as if you know anything. Because you don't.

In a pool? Or a natural body of water.

I have a hard time picturing a “strong swimmer” drowning in a pool absent a medical emergency.

The young girl was caught in the suction from the pool’s drain. The teen apparently slipped off the edge and hit his head as he fell into the water. Just 2 examples of freak accidents even when parents are not being neglectful.

Anonymous wrote:The 2 funerals I've been to of drowning victims have been children (age 6 and 16) who were strong swimmers and with adults nearby. Both tragedies were considered freak accidents.

Unless you're the publicist or spokesperson for this family, you really should not speak as if you know anything. Because you don't.

In a pool? Or a natural body of water.

I have a hard time picturing a “strong swimmer” drowning in a pool absent a medical emergency.

Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine drowned at 17. He was a lifeguard.

Where are some of you getting these details that haven't been released?

They’re just making sh!t up to serve the purpose that Smith’s caused the accident and that nothing will every happen to their child. The only fact that has been released was Granger’s PR confirming that the child did drown.

A friend of mine drowned at 17. He was a lifeguard.

Where are some of you getting these details that haven't been released?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at tyson's a few months ago with my 3 yr old DD. Who is beautiful and blonde and blue eyed, which I think is relevant to the story, only reason I'm saying it.

I was at the lego store getting a present for a nephew, it is a very small store. She went straigh to the lego table and I turned to survey the boxes on the wall and took maybe 3 steps away towards the other wall. I turned around after maybe 10 seconds and she was gone.

Searched the store quickly with my eyes, not there. Ran out into the hall, nowhere to be seen. A woman in the mall asked if I was looking for my daughter and said there was a distressed toddler down the way with a woman looking for her mom. I ran and got all the way to Macy's before I spotted her being pulled by a woman. She had pulled her hand away when I screamed her name. And DD came running to me, sobbing. And the woman who was helping her quickly vanished. I never got within 30 feet of her.

Who knows what happened. And how a child can get 100 yards away from a store in the time it takes for a parent to look at some lego boxes, realize the child is missing and come looking.

I'm grateful every single second of every single day that I don't need to think about those three steps and that 10 seconds as being the worst mistake of my entire life.

People and parents are human and you have to live your life and pray that the worst luck in the world never happens to strike you. There but for the grace of god go I. I hope the Smiths eventually find peace.

I hope you reported this. There are security cameras everywhere at Tysons mall. But, yes, a few pps here would say this could NEVER happen to them because blah, blah, blah.

I did call Tyson's and report it actually. I think they looked at the cameras but they never followed up with me. It happened so quickly and technically nothing terrible happened so I'm not sure what they could have done. The 'woman' had told the other woman, the one who told me which way they went, that she was looking for her mom. But that woman had a bad feeling, I know because she ran after me and when I thought I had gone the wrong way because there was no way they could have gotten that far she was still behind me and said no keep going they're farther down there.

I don't know what happened. But I know that it felt bad and it happened in less than a minute when I was less than 5 feet from my daughter. I just think people are really blind to the fact that there is no way we keep eyes on our kids 24/7. It's impossible.

What did your 3 YO tell you? At that age they should be able to articulate things like this.

DD was newly 3 and hysterical. She just kept asking why I "left her". Insisted that this is what had happened. I think, if im being honest about the situation, that in the crowded store I must have gotten out of her vision. Either the woman was waiting for that and told dd I had left and that she needed to come with her, or dd wandered out of the storefront and then woman approached her and told her I'd left her.

The reason it has felt nefarious to me is that if I saw a child alone and wanted to help I would wait at least a couple minutes in place waiting for the parent to appear while asking the child where they had come from and they had not only moved immediately but moved very very fast.

The 2 funerals I've been to of drowning victims have been children (age 6 and 16) who were strong swimmers and with adults nearby. Both tragedies were considered freak accidents.

Unless you're the publicist or spokesperson for this family, you really should not speak as if you know anything. Because you don't.

Anonymous wrote:Very sad but a 3 year old should have been given swim lessons w/ a family who has a pool at their house.

Where has it been reported that he couldn’t swim? There seem to be very few details that have been released.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very sad but a 3 year old should have been given swim lessons w/ a family who has a pool at their house.

Seems like a few pps here have all sorts of insights about this tragedy, the pool’s safety features, the kids’ swimming abilities, the parenting etc. How do you all know the non-public inside info?

+1

@and, FWIW, I know all kinds of adults who have CPR training that wouldn’t know what to do in an emergency.

Oh, and a huge number of people who know how to swim actually drown.. 25% of drowning victims were swimmers. https://www.ilsf.org/drowning-facts-and-figures/

+1 I've seen stories about Navy Seals who have drowned. It can happen in an instant. All of you smug parents/nannies who are so sure no tragedy could ever befall your child because you have such superior parenting skills are living in a dream world.

Anonymous wrote:Very sad but a 3 year old should have been given swim lessons w/ a family who has a pool at their house.

+1 there are classes for infants that teach them to flip on their backs and get to the edge of the pool. There is no reason a 3 yr old who has a pool in their yard should not know how to swim.

My sister was all set to get a pool in her yard despite everyone telling here it was a bad idea with 3 young kids who couldn’t swim. Thankfully she realized how crazy her youngest is and that he could get past any barrier. That along with stories like this made thyme decide to wait on the pool until all their kids are older and can swim.

Anonymous wrote:Jessica Alba has a pool, which her baby can easily fall into. No gate. Even an adult can fall into it just walking on the lawn. Hopefully, she will learn from this tragedy.

She's nuts to have a wide open pool like that with small children in her home.