Here’s my angry rant for this week…
Yesterday I was swimming at a local popular spot; I turned and less than ten yards from me saw a very small child frantically treading water and disappearing below the surface. I lunged and grabbed him – he would not have resurfaced had I not seen him at that second. He made no sound whatsoever, no splashing, no noise at all and it was just sheer chance that I turned in his direction when I did. His parents were sitting on the shore about 30 yards away from us under an umbrella and yet did not see a thing…because they were not watching him.
I took the child to his parents and explained what had happened to their son and they were shocked; had I not seen him they could have been grieving tonight. He was about four years old, could not swim and was not even wearing flotation bands – ALL children from the age of 12 months MUST be taught to tread water at the very least. It should be compulsory – a child drowning is the most unnecessary tragedy and yet the most easily preventable.
In the past week two British toddlers have drowned in unfenced pools at rented holiday villa’s in Spain; why people would rent a property with an unfenced pool when they have a) small children, and b) small children who cannot swim, is completely beyond me…
Parents are often overly-indulgent these days; their kids have every gadget that modern technology can produce, they take family holidays each year – so why in hell do they not spend that bit of money and put their toddlers in a course of swimming lessons? We all learn to walk, to talk, to feed ourselves…learning to swim should be considered just as vital a survival skill.
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