Who has lost track of your child for a minute? A few minutes? Come on, I know I’m not the only one who has had that shot of pure panic at Target when one kid was begging for a toy and the other decided to play hide-and-seek under the clothing racks. Or how about at the airport when you are scanning the carousel for your luggage and suddenly realized your kids aren’t right next to you? At the…

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There are some amazing programs out there on water safety and drowning prevention. I was inspired by a couple of stories this week and wanted to share one of them. First,

check out this link: …

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Mary Ann Downing of Pool Safety Solutions posted a great technique for keeping kids safe at backyard pools. Check out http://www.ehow.com/how_5884519_use-safer-backyard-pool-event.html?shared=true. Basically, each responsible adult takes the ‘tag’ and spends 10 minutes watching all the kids near and in the pool. When the 10 minutes is up they ‘tag’ another adult who then spends 10 minutes. What I love… Continue

Have you ever been caught in a current and felt like you were out of control? When I was about 13 I spent the summer with my cousins in Los Angeles. On a trip to Santa Monica beach I vividly remember being smashed down by the surf while I was body surfing. I was twisted and turned by the waves, dragged out to sea with the sand scrapping my stomach and back. I frantically tried to get a foot-hold but it seemed forever (probably less than a minute) before I could connect my feet with the ocean… Continue

We sat around the kitchen table recently listening to my borrowed teenager recount his scars. It took an hour. My personal favorite was how he rode his bike, while wearing his rollerblades, with no brakes, down a very steep and winding road that I know is heavily trafficked by very fast drivers. And I remembered, again, how his mother, my business partner and close friend, told me of a study which showed that teenage boys go through a period where they are incapable of experiencing fear. They… Continue

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall....turn around and hang on! My kids have been doing ‘Humpty Dumptys’ since they were 6 months old. Water safety is the first line of defense in keeping kids safe. They sit on the side of the pool and you recite the familiar nursery rhyme and help them ‘fall’ into the water, head above water first and then as they get comfortable they lean forward and fall under the water, then you help them ‘turn around and hold on’. Say the words over… Continue

At a popular Australian pool last week, Matthew Kennedy, an 8-year old boy with autism, a severe speech impediment and learning difficulties, recognized that Emily, a 3-year old girl, was in distress. He jumped in, grabbed her arms, lifted her head above the water and pulled her out of the pool. Emily was unconscious and foaming at the mouth. Matthew’s father and the lifeguard began CPR, Emily began to breathe again and she was taken to the emergency room, still alive.



There are two… Continue

A study released this week* proved that participation in formal swimming lessons cuts the risk of drowning for children ages 1-4 by 88%. Remember the first time you gave your new baby a bath? That rather concerned look on their face when you lowered them carefully into the water and then that flicker of recognition, ‘oh yes, water, I floated in my warm and comforting cocoon for the previous 9 months before you ejected me in a rather forceful manner’. I remember that my two quickly came to love… Continue