Water safety tips before jumping in

With the hot, summer weather comes days in the water for children young and old. And while swimming is a fun and healthy way to cool down in the summertime, it is an activity that requires parent supervision for all children, the youth in particular.

Kelli DiDeminco, from The Children’s Workshop , talked on The Rhode Show Monday to parents on water safety tips and precautions. Her number one water safety tip is to always maintain adult supervision no matter what.

“Parents forget children can drown in a pool with children and families surrounding the pool if you’re not keeping an eye on the child,” said DiDeminco.

For her second water safety tip, DiDeminco suggests parents seek out proper CPR training.

“It’s very easy, you can go online and find a class,” said DiDeminco. “It just gives you that extra comfort to know that you have the skills in case an emergency comes up.”

As her third water safety tip, DiDeminco says that both the parents and child should know how to swim before visiting a pool, beach, or other body of water.

“Typically in every town that you have there is a pool,” said DiDeminco. “All you have to do is contact your local town pool or recreation department and ask when the classes are offered.”

DiDeminco suggests fencing around pools to protect young children from falling into the water, whether it is a pool at the local recreation center or a pool in your own backyard.

“Make sure you have the proper fencing,” said DiDeminco. “Not only do you want the fencing around the pool; but you want it around the hot tub also. How high should that fencing be? It has to be about 5 feet tall.”

As a small reminder, DiDeminco closed with how water safety is not only important for outdoors, but indoors as well.

“If you have to leave the bathroom, take your child with you,” said DiDeminco. “Just in case a little curious one goes back into the bathtub. With toilet safety the same thing could happen. We always want to make sure our toilet seats are covered, closed, and locked if we have little ones under 5.”

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