Are You Keeping Your Child Safe Near Water?

It was so hard reading the news today about Andrew Durkin -the 3 year old Gilboa boy - that drowned over the weekend.  Imagine the absolute terror and horror that little boy had as he was swept up in the Susquehanna River.  Or the sheer panic and utter desperation experienced by the family as their little boy went missing; fearing the worst. It makes my heart heart.  I take my 3 year old son swimming with me quite a bit and while he's typically a very safe and catious kid, accidents do happen.  It takes a little common sense and some good practical advice to give your child the best chance at surviving a family's worst nightmare.  Please take a look at - and share - some of these basic tips for when you're on vacation, near a pool, or just hanging out with friends on a boat.

A very comprehensive article from Parents.com helps us gain some very practical and useful guidelines when it comes to keeping your kids safe around water. It's a worthwhile read and one that can merely serve as a refresher course for what we feel we already know. Some of the tips - not neccesarily top of mind -  include: Dangers of the drain in pools and hot tubs, setting up several roadblocks, and not relying on lifeguards. 

No parent should every regret not doing everything possible to keep a child safe in and around water.  And no child should ever die too young as a result of it.