MADISON, Ala. (WHNT) — Memorial Day Weekend is well-known as the kick-off to summer. Many neighborhood pools and waterparks start to open for the season this time of year.
However, a fun afternoon at the pool can turn dangerous in a split second.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, drowning is the number one cause of injury death for children ages one to four in the U.S. Unfortunately, there were several child drowning reports in North Alabama in 2024.
“Drowning, unfortunately, is usually very quiet, and it happens really quickly,” said Kylie Beckwith, the Deck Supervisor at Goldfish Swim School in Madison. She said, unlike in the movies, the person isn’t usually flailing their arms and shouting for help.
That’s why she says it’s so important to teach your children about water safety and to teach them water survivor skills.
Beckwith said, knowing where to go to get safe is the biggest thing.
“So making sure they’re learning to turn to their back to get safe so that they can get air and parents can see or other grown-ups can see them, that they’re in distress or calling for help,” Beckwith said.
As a new mom herself, Beckwith recommends getting your child in swim lessons starting as an infant. Goldfish Swim School starts lessons for babies at four months old.
“The importance of starting them young, and I do it for my daughter as well, is just getting exposure to the pool, other kids, how to interact with other children in the water,” Beckwith told News 19.
Besides talking to your kids about having boundaries near bodies of water, she recommends putting extra protections in place if you have a backyard pool.
“Please make sure there’s a gate around your pool,” she said. “That it’s always closed, locked, whatever you need to do.”
Regardless of how strong of a swimmer that your child is, she also recommends having them wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket.
She said the color of their swimsuit can also help them be seen in a pool, and a potential emergency.
“As cute as some of the light blues, the neutral colors that are really popular right now, as great as those things are, they blend in really easily with the pool,” Beckwith said. “So if a parent is scanning or a lifeguard is scanning, it does make it a little bit more difficult to see them.”
If you’re swimming somewhere without a lifeguard on duty, she reminds parents to pay attention at all times and not get distracted by things like cell phones.
“Just keeping eyes on the pool, making sure you don’t walk away without communicating with someone to have eyes on them too,” she said.
She said to never assume another parent is watching the pool and that it’s good to designate a pool watcher.
Goldfish Swim School offers a wide range of classes and swim lessons for different age groups. The YMCA also offers swim lessons.
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