Keeping your kids safe at the beach and pool

AccuWeather

With school years wrapping up across the country, many families are heading to the beaches. Annette Rowland of the American Red Cross offers helpful tips to keep your kids safe at the beach and pool.

Transcript

00:00the school year it's coming to an end there's warmer weather ahead and families are hitting

00:04the beaches and pools but how can you keep your kids safe around the water well here are important

00:10safety tips with annette roland national spokesperson for the american red cross good

00:15morning annette we want to know when it comes to safety in the pool what are some simple rules that

00:19parents should set for their kids hey thanks for having me and this is something that's close to

00:25my heart i have two kids i have a pool at my house and so three of the things that i always

00:29teach them is you never want to swim alone you want to ask for permission from an adult and you

00:36want to swim with an adult don't want to swim alone and if you've got a sibling you may your instinct

00:40may be if you see them drowning but i always say reach or throw don't go in event of emergency you

00:47want to make sure that you're teaching your kids how to throw an object to the person that's in

00:51trouble so they can grab onto that and making sure that they understand that they shouldn't go in

00:56because they could be a victim themselves i love that the reach and throw don't go i feel like

00:59it's easier for kids to remember yeah something that rhymes like that an easy statement how does

01:03the red cross define water competency for kids yeah water competency competency simply means being

01:10water smart having those swimming skills that's helping others in an emergency uh water comedy

01:17water competency for kids that really just means being able to enter the water float tread water

01:23swim for 25 yards and be able to get out of that pool or the water safely and of course a lot of us

01:31spend time in pools but others spend time at the beach which is a little bit of a different ball game so

01:35what should parents watch out for when they're taking kids to the beach where there's waves and all

01:39sorts of different fun activities you're right the beach is a little different so you want to make

01:45sure that you're identifying someone who's paying close attention to children but not only children to

01:50older people that are at the beach even in shallow water uh waves can cause you it'll knock you off

01:55your feet and cause you to lose balance uh so making sure that young children have a properly fitted u.s

02:01coast guard approved life jacket is is imperative but also good current safety those have been

02:07prevalent um here along the gulf so they're responsible for a lot of deaths so if you're caught

02:12in a rip current you want to stay calm don't fight it swim parallel to the shore until you're out of that

02:17current and then you can turn and swim to shore both at the pool and at the beach what are some

02:23ways adults can be ready if a child does get into some trouble in the water yeah if you notice that

02:28you have a child that's in trouble in the water um you want to check the water first right seconds

02:33count seconds count when it comes to preventing death or disability so check the water first if there

02:38is a lifeguard you want to make sure that you alert that lifeguard but you also want to be able to

02:43recognize this recognize the signs of somebody that's in trouble and maybe shouting for help

02:47drowning doesn't look like we see it in the movies all the time it's typically quick and silent so

02:53making sure that you are spotting those signs and remember reach um reach or throw something out to

03:00them tell them to grab it and don't go in after them net roland national spokesperson for the american

03:06red cross thanks again for joining us on accuweather early

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