I have a friend who has a pool. She is probably the most safety conscious person you can imagine. Her kids are older and strong swimmers and she still watches them like a hawk. Yet they almost had a drowning in their pool. They had neighbors over to swim. Everyone finished the swim and were out of the pool with towels around them. Four adults and 3 kids. As they gathered all their stuff to go out the gate, the 2 year old silently slipped into the pool with her towel still around her. One of the older kids noticed the towel in the pool and leaned over and then realized the child was under the towel. Older kid jumped in and grabbed the child.

They would have noticed as they left within another 30 seconds that she was missing but it might have been too late. Both the child's parents were within feet of the pool and had been in physical contact with the child wrapping her in a towel only seconds before. The child was fine and couldn't have been in the water more than 30 seconds but everyone was completely shaken. It can happen really fast.

I don't take any chances with the pools we have. It is so preventable.

It is so dark to say this but I can't be the only one finding it ironic that a country singer had a child named River who ended up drowning. That is a country song.

4 years ago, my now 10 year old walked one step too far towards the deep end and his eyes & top of his head were still visible. DH & I were both within arms reach, but he didn’t even realize what was happening. Fortunately, I did and scooped him up. It was silent and there was no struggle. He had a big bout of coughing and I had just read about secondary drowning - which I then worried about for days after the incident. We’ve since moved near my in-laws house and I hate it so much that their house has a pool. Our youngest is 3, and I try to totally avoid going over in the summer months as they never lock their 2 pool gates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So true. I was sitting on the edge of the baby pool once, with my head turned to put sunblock on my older DD's shoulders, who was sitting beside me. In those seconds, my younger DS slipped and was just laying under the water, not bothering to try and get up. Maybe he was so surprised it didn't occur to him? It really is seconds and it's not even being distracted by something you shouldn't be doing, like getting on your phone. It can be anything.

You can say it won't happen to you

This happened to me when I was small. My mother was sitting on the edge of the pool watching me, and saw it. Thought I was just diving and holding my breath. I got disoriented, oddly enough, and didn't know which way was back up, even though I could have just stood up. She thought it was too long and just yanked me up. I was probably around 4 or 5?

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So true. I was sitting on the edge of the baby pool once, with my head turned to put sunblock on my older DD's shoulders, who was sitting beside me. In those seconds, my younger DS slipped and was just laying under the water, not bothering to try and get up. Maybe he was so surprised it didn't occur to him? It really is seconds and it's not even being distracted by something you shouldn't be doing, like getting on your phone. It can be anything.

You can say it won't happen to you

Anonymous wrote:So based on that, maybe there was a tall toy next to the pool gate?

Or otherwise was able to get inside the gate?

Probably the gate was left ajar. We don't know how careful these people were. Most people don't comprehend how deadly pools are for children. It only takes a couple seconds for them to silently slip in the water, and only another minute or so to drown. They can also appear to be safe after being pulled out from a near drowning and die hours later if the water isn't removed from the lungs.

I remember when my daughter was around 16 months old she slipped into grandma's backyard koi pond (<2 feet deep) when her dad turned his back for 5 seconds. Shed been right next to him just moments earlier. When he turned back around he saw her head lowering into the water and jumped in and pulled her out. She didn't splash or make a peep. That's how fast and quietly it can happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So based on that, maybe there was a tall toy next to the pool gate?

Or otherwise was able to get inside the gate?

I was reading that as the water gun fight was in the pool.

I imagined they were all playing in the yard and maybe the 7 yr old ran to the pool for a quick water gun fill up. 3 yr old follows. 7 yr old doesn’t Tragedy ensues.

Their older boy is only 5. The parents were doing gymnastics in the yard with their 7 year old daughter while the boys (3 and 5) played with their squirt guns. A 5 year old would have a tough time opening a pool gate simply because they aren't tall enough and their arms aren't long enough to operate the mechanism. But I guess it depends on what type of gate they have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So based on that, maybe there was a tall toy next to the pool gate?

Or otherwise was able to get inside the gate?

I was reading that as the water gun fight was in the pool.

I imagined they were all playing in the yard and maybe the 7 yr old ran to the pool for a quick water gun fill up. 3 yr old follows. 7 yr old doesn’t Tragedy ensues.