This is a frightening title to a blog post! It’s, however, a warning being declared around the world this summer. If you have children in your swimming pool, please be aware of those deadly cell phone calls!
Recently, lifeguards in the United Arab Emirates have warned parents to put their cell phones away while their children are in the pool. The warning came after two children, ages eight and nine, drowned in a public pool in June.
The police in Abu Dhabi said, “Families should not be busy with their smart devices while children are swimming.”
In Germany, this summer has been especially bad for child drownings as a result of parents using smartphones. More than 300 people have drowned so far.
Peter Harzheim of the German federation of swimming pool supervisors said that, “… increasing numbers of parents and grandparents are fixated by their smartphones and are not looking left and right, let alone paying attention to their children.”
He also said, “It’s sad that parents behave so neglectfully these days.”
The Reasons Why Cell Phone Calls Are So Deadly
In a normal year, the Centers for Disease Control report that drowning is the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and 4. Now, the organization is warning that distractions caused by cell phones are causing even more deadly accidents.
Studies show that many adults think they can take a few minutes and check out their Facebook postings while their children are swimming. That is a big mistake! Research shows that the average person spends five minutes on Facebook each time they log on. And, it’s easy to stay on much longer… time goes by so fast.
Movies have given us all the impression that when someone is beginning to drown, they will yell and scream, and throw their arms around. Research shows that this is not true, especially for young children. A young child can drown in as little as 20 seconds. They often do it silently!
‘I don’t think parents know how quickly and quietly drowning occurs,” says Sharon Evans from Cook Children’s Medical Center in Ft. Worth. “There is no thrashing. No yelling for help. The drowning child is just trying to push down the water to get their head above the surface to gasp a breath of air”.
So, parents, please put down those deadly cell phones! Your number one job is to watch the children in the swimming pool.
Take an Extra Step – Teach Your Children to Swim
Life Saver Survival Swim School urges all parents to avoid deadly cell phone calls. More importantly, if you haven’t done so already, teach your children to float and swim… many children are learning these valuable lessons when they are 6 months old. If you are interested in learning more about this, give Bonnie a telephone call at (832) 366-3008. Or, you can email her.