Lake Safety for Kids
Today, we are highlighting lake safety. These rules are geared toward kids, but honestly, they're applicable to people any age. Roughly 38% of open water drownings in children occur in a lake. Take a look to find out how you can prevent your child from being a statistic.
Don’t dive into the water. Jumping from cliffs or bridges is dangerous due to shallow water, submerged rocks, trees, snake nests, or other hazards.
Don’t consider your children to be “drown proof” because they are strong swimmers or went to a swimming class. A child who falls into water unexpectedly may panic and forget learned swimming skills.
Make sure your child can swim a far enough distance to get to shore.
Know hand signals when tubing or skiing so the driver of the boat knows when the person being pulled is okay or needs to stop.
Use life jackets that meet U.S. Coast Guard requirements when boating, regardless of distance to be traveled, size of boat, or swimming ability of boaters.
Always supervise children closely. Do not read, play cards, talk on the phone, or engage in any other distracting activity while watching children in or around water.
Check local weather conditions and forecasts before swimming or boating. Strong winds and thunderstorms called “pop up” storms can happen at any time, and are dangerous to boaters and swimmers.
Know the signs of drowning. Drowning usually happens fast and silently. Signs of a person drowning include silence (children who hyperventilate will not be screaming), a head that is tilted back as it stretches for air, arms that are moving downward as the drowning person attempts to push their bodies upwards on something solid, clinging to the side of a raft or boat, and bobbing or treading in the water.