For me, there is nothing more fun than planning a vacation. I spend hours on Trip Advisor checking out new resorts, reading reviews and planning. I love the planning maybe as much as the vacation itself.
About 6 years ago, my husband and I planned a trip to Hilton Head with another family. We rented a beautiful home with a swimming pool. Although a house with a pool was great for our family and nap schedule, I had nightmares about the kids drowning. With a two-year-old son and a new baby, I could not shake the dread of our children being so close to an open body of water.
I figured the only way to get over this fear was to learn as much as I possibly could about swim safety, so I started to research drowning prevention to better understand how and why kids drown. I learned a lot, like how kids are more likely to drown if their primary caregiver is not present. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drowning occurs because of lack of swimming ability, inadequate barriers around open water, lack of close supervision, location and failure to wear a life jacket.
Some of these factors I could control but others I could not. With our trip only weeks away, I didn’t have the time or resources to get my two-year-old son the swim instruction he needed to be water-safe in time for our trip. Instead, my husband and I focused our attention on increasing supervision and restricting access.
When we arrived at the vacation home, I immediately sent my husband out for baby proofing tools and put additional locks on all the doors. While he was installing the locks, our friend’s three-year-old son fell in the pool, and because we were supervising we were able to quickly pull him from the water. The child was fine and happy to have gone for a swim, and the only loss was my husband’s cell phone. By the end of the trip, everyone had remained safe, and we were able to use the pool as a way to significantly improve the swimming skills of the three older children. We used it as a learning experience and had a lot of fun.
Fast-forward 6 years to today. My husband and I love to travel, as do our kids, who have no idea how lucky they are to have such opportunities. We now stay at more resorts with pools and other water activities. I no longer have nightmares about our kids drowning or the pool not being safe.
How did I get to this place? I have become an expert in preparing and planning ahead. My family makes fun of me for all of the swim tools and extra stuff I drag along on our trips. For example, I pack separate bags with the following:
Kathy Ryan is the owner of Goldfish Swim School - Chicago and a mother of two.
About 6 years ago, my husband and I planned a trip to Hilton Head with another family. We rented a beautiful home with a swimming pool. Although a house with a pool was great for our family and nap schedule, I had nightmares about the kids drowning. With a two-year-old son and a new baby, I could not shake the dread of our children being so close to an open body of water.
I figured the only way to get over this fear was to learn as much as I possibly could about swim safety, so I started to research drowning prevention to better understand how and why kids drown. I learned a lot, like how kids are more likely to drown if their primary caregiver is not present. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drowning occurs because of lack of swimming ability, inadequate barriers around open water, lack of close supervision, location and failure to wear a life jacket.
Some of these factors I could control but others I could not. With our trip only weeks away, I didn’t have the time or resources to get my two-year-old son the swim instruction he needed to be water-safe in time for our trip. Instead, my husband and I focused our attention on increasing supervision and restricting access.
When we arrived at the vacation home, I immediately sent my husband out for baby proofing tools and put additional locks on all the doors. While he was installing the locks, our friend’s three-year-old son fell in the pool, and because we were supervising we were able to quickly pull him from the water. The child was fine and happy to have gone for a swim, and the only loss was my husband’s cell phone. By the end of the trip, everyone had remained safe, and we were able to use the pool as a way to significantly improve the swimming skills of the three older children. We used it as a learning experience and had a lot of fun.
Fast-forward 6 years to today. My husband and I love to travel, as do our kids, who have no idea how lucky they are to have such opportunities. We now stay at more resorts with pools and other water activities. I no longer have nightmares about our kids drowning or the pool not being safe.
How did I get to this place? I have become an expert in preparing and planning ahead. My family makes fun of me for all of the swim tools and extra stuff I drag along on our trips. For example, I pack separate bags with the following:
- Sunblock, sunblock, and more sunblock
- Goggles for every child on the trip
- Swim tools to help us work on swim skills while on vacation, including: a floating barbell used in lessons, life jackets for the ocean on particularly rough days and lot of swim torpedoes and other toys for diving in the pool. These tools help us focus some of our time every day on learning swim safety and skills.
- “Jump, turn, swim to the wall!” Let your child jump off the side of the pool to you, help them physically turn back to the wall and then assist them in getting out of the pool by using the phrase, “Elbow, elbow, tummy, knees.” Do this over and over again, and as they become more confident let them go under the water and come to the surface on their own.
- Back floats! Help them get comfortable and be successful in their back floats through a progression of supporting them from underneath their shoulders, encouraging “chin back, belly to the sky” to arch the back. As they progress, you can begin to support them less by switching to holding just the neck and head, and eventually having them float on their own.
- Windmill arms and rollovers! Work on getting those freestyle arms out of the pool with “big arms,” and rolling over from front to back and back to front. The rollover is a great teaching tool as it introduces the safety skill of getting on your back to float, as well as familiarizes the beginning stages of side breath in freestyle. Be sure to encourage them to turn their heads to the side to breathe instead of popping their heads up as they progress.
Kathy Ryan is the owner of Goldfish Swim School - Chicago and a mother of two.
