NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — A recent report highlights the danger of child drownings as experts stress teaching water safety to kids.
Living in Florida, you’re surrounded by water anywhere you go.
"There's too many bodies of water around us, too many pools, and just walking down in the neighborhood, there's five lakes that we pass,” said Melissa Hamdan.
Hamdan knows keeping her kids safe is priority number one. Her three kids take swim lessons at Seal Swim School in New Port Richey.
One by one, her kids are building their skills to help prevent a tragedy in the water.
“We always will worry, and they still need us around, but this is huge for me, a huge sense of relief for me,” said Hamdan.
It’s an issue highlighted in a report released by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, showing fatal child drownings and non-deadly drowning injuries for kids under 15 remain high.
You can read the full report below.
Where the location was known, the agency said 80% of reported deadly child drownings happened in residential settings, like the victim’s home or that of a family member, friend, or neighbor, with 91% of those drownings happening in those younger than five years old.
“The younger you start them, the easier it is because they have not developed a fear of the water yet,” said Erin Seal-Grande, the co-owner of Seal Swim School West Pasco.
Seal Swim School has been teaching kids how to swim for 43 years.
"When you teach them to swim, you're teaching them to fight, so they're learning if they fall in the pool, that they can turn around and get the wall, that they can turn on their back and float, that they can kick their feet, they can pull, they can try and get to the ledge to help themselves and get out of the water,” said Seal-Grande.
Seal-Grande also suggested wearing life jackets on boats, putting up barriers around pools, and never taking your eyes off your kids when they’re in the water.
"We have to do everything that we can as parents, so this is my one little thing that I can do during the summer that will keep them that much safer,” said Hamdan.
