Hitting A Little Too Close to Home: stories of swimming tragedies

During the summer months, I spend most days with my three children at the local YMCA swimming pool.  We often meet friends, or the kids are happy to play with each other or by themselves.  Watching all three kids all can be quite a feat, but each year it gets easier.

This year my nine-year-old son victoriously passed the swim test, which allows him to swim in the deep end and go down the mammoth, twisting slides.  I fully admit that I don't supervise him closely.  I trust his swimming ability at this point, and perhaps naively, I also trust the life guards to be alert and keep an eye on the kids.  My son is allowed to go anywhere in the pool, but he must let me know if he goes inside or to the playground.  As long as I know where he is, and as long as he proves himself trustworthy, I don't feel the need to watch him.  His younger sisters are my primary concern.  Neither are strong swimmers, and it's enough of a challenge to watch them at all times without looking around to find my son every so often.

Last week, we took our first solo jaunt to the pool.  My son took off with one of his friends and checked in with me periodically.  I stood by the pool, chit-chatting with a friend, while keeping an eye on the girls.  We were there for hours.  It wasn't too incredibly crowded, due to the ominous weather, and I commiserated with my friend about how much harder it is to watch our kids when it gets busier.  We left close to dinnertime, congratulating ourselves on a relaxing afternoon at the pool when the only major mishap was my daughter stubbing her big toe. 

Then last night, I opened my email and found a link to this article in our local newspaper.

LIMERICK — A 9-year-old boy was found unconscious in the deep end of an outdoor pool at the Spring Valley YMCA Friday afternoon. The boy was resuscitated and flown to an area hospital from the Pottstown Limerick Airport.

A friend had seen it happen.  Evidently the pool was overly crowded yesterday.  The most disturbing part was that she said the life guards kind of froze, and a bystander administered CPR.

The full story is here. 

When I read that the child is 10 years old is when the story really hit home.  You know you have to watch the little ones.  But to realize that a child my son's age -- the one I feel like I don't have to watch closely -- almost drowned at the very pool we frequent is hitting a little too close to home.  Even more sobering is the fact that he wasn't even in the deep end; he was in the area where my younger children swim and play freely. 

I know intellectually how fast a child can get into trouble in the water, but I guess I take for granted that it could happen to my child.  Even having it happen in my pool is enough to make me think twice about taking three children to the pool alone.  There is no way I can have my sights on all three at all times.

Of course this story has a happy ending.  Apparently the child is okay, and the staff did get to him in time.  But I'll certainly be taking my supervision duties more seriously from here on out.

This is an original post to the Philadelphia Moms Blog. Jo-Lynne also blogs on her personal blog, Musings of a Housewife and at Chic Critique.