Last week, I posted a piece to the blog - link here - in the aftermath of a double drowning in Port Burwell that claimed the life of a 7-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister. Neither could swim, and I ended up getting into a bit of an exchange with someone on Twitter after he said I had no right to comment, and my posts were in poor taste.
Needless to say, I disagreed. And I haven't heard from him since. Whatever.
Fast forward a bit and I'm scheduled to speak with CBC Radio's Ontario Morning tomorrow (Monday) morning at 7:10 am ET. I'll be chatting with Mike Ewing, and although the interview represents a bit of a departure from my usual tech fare, it'll give me an ideal opportunity to talk about water safety from my perspective as a former lifeguard.
I look forward to all of my on-air work, of course, but this one stands out just a bit more than usual. I hope one person listens, and feels the need to change. I hope one person realizes how important it is to hover over a child whenever they're near water. I hope this interview spurs additional discussion, thought, awareness and learning. I hope you're able to tune in, too.
Your turn: Thoughts?
Update: the interview is available here.
Direct link to the audio is here.
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1 comment:
Carmi, I've read all the links you posted and listened to your broadcast. I have to applaud you for speaking out as you did.
Yesterday, a two year old girl in my town was found drowned in a 18 inch inflatable pool left filled and uncovered in a neighbors unfenced yard. The girl and her twin brother roamed away from their home in the early morning while their caregiver was still asleep. no one knows how the child got into the pool and drown or why her brother did not follow her into the pool.
Law enforcement want to charge the caregiver with neglect for not hearing the children wake up and leave the home. But, what about the neighbor who left an unprotected water hazard in an unsecured located. Shouldn't they also be held liable? When will people learn?
As a non swimmer I saw to it that my child started swimming lessons as soon as possible and that really paid off.
The stupidest thing I ever did was let my 8 year old daughter shame me into going down a water slide at a public water park face first. I lost it when I hit the pool at the bottom of the slide. I came close to drowning, myself, in that three feet of water. I had to be pulled out by the two eight year old kids (daughter and her friend) who came down the slide behind me.
That experience had me at the Y taking swim lesson for the next two years. It took most of that time to overcome my fear of the deep water. To this day I will not go in any pool alone or allow the children in my care to go without a better swimmer then me chaperoning them.
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