Being “Water Safe”

I have been a USA Swimming Foundation Ambassador for 10 years. That means that I have travelled all across the country to spread the message in any way, shape, or form that SWIMMING LESSONS ARE IMPORTANT! If you take nothing away from this blog post or only read the blurb hear me out: 10 people drown each and every day in the US and 2 of them are children. It is the leading cause of injury related death in children aged 1 to 4 and the second leading cause in kids under the age of 14(1). The good news is that formalized swim lessons were associated with an 88% reduction in the risk of drowning in children(2).

Alright, if you are still reading that means I caught your attention. Unfortunately, when presented with this harsh reality many parents decide that the best course of action for their children is to avoid the water altogether. Who can blame them? Water can be dangerous so why not just make sure our kids don’t go near the pool? Well, as most parents know, we can not account for our children 100% of the time, especially when there are multiple in a household. In fact, 69% of children younger than 5 years of age were not expected to be at or in the pool at the time of a drowning incident(3). But scaring the bejeezus out of parents was not my intent when writing this post. The real reason I wanted to write this is to discuss the idea of children becoming “Water Safe.”

Rewind to 30 years ago when Will and I took our respective swimming lessons. If you were to ask our parents why they signed up the answer would be simple: they wanted their kids to become “Water Safe.” But in the past 30 years we have learned an unfortunate truth; being truly “Water Safe” does not exist. I am not the type of person to correct others on their grammar or word selection as I know that mine is far from perfect. I gravitated towards classes in college with tests and quizzes vs the ones with papers (shoutout to my fellow left brainers!). However, when I see well intentioned emails in the AC Swim Club inbox requesting lessons so their child can become “Water Safe” it causes me to pause. The word safe means that you are “free from harm” when the truth is that water can still be dangerous even to the most experienced swimmers! Just take a walk down Ocean Beach in San Francisco during a storm. I don't think anyone would argue that those 15 foot waves are safe! Not even those who are brave enough to try to surf them. In fact, I would argue that those who brave the ocean on a regular basis would be the first to tell you that “Water Safe” does not exist and that they take a calculated risk every time they jump in the water.

The correct terminology according to the American Association of Pediatrics is “Water Competent”. They define it as “the ability to anticipate, avoid, and survive common drowning situations”. This can obviously lead to pretty broad interpretations, however, they do narrow down the pool portion of water competency as “possessing the ability to enter the water, to surface, turn around, propel oneself for at least 25 yards, float on or tread water, and to exit the water”(3). Which, in my own biased opinion, isn’t quite enough. Personally, I think that kids should be able to swim 3 of the 4 strokes for 25 yards properly (side breathing in freestyle, no breaks in backstroke, and proper kicks in breaststroke). This would demonstrate an understanding of how to move through the water in different ways and give kids different tools to use if they ever found themselves in an unsafe situation. The fourth stroke, butterfly, can be reserved for those who are interested in joining a summer league or a swim team in the future. Let’s be real, butterfly is really only for those who want to compete in the sport or show off for their friends (looking at you Michael Phelps).

If you are interested in the other elements that are important factors to Water Competence click on the links below. There is some really valuable information in there especially if you have a pool at home!

1.) Unintentional Drowning: Get the Facts.
2.) Association Between Swimming Lessons and Drowning in Childhood
3.) Prevention of Drowning