Swimming and Water Safety

When my youngest son, Kai, turned 2 years old I thought it was time to enroll him in swim classes. While checking the options available for him, I found the Red Cross Swim Preschool Program.  It looked very exciting as they use animal mascots for each level of the program and integrate songs and activities into the lessons to make it fun and engaging for kids.

At first glance, laying on an inflatable toy in shallow water seems pretty safe, after all, the water isn’t deep and there is a floating toy right there. Recently, a family’s trip to the beach in Nova Scotia proved to be a harrowing reminder of why this is not the case.

Jim and his wife always remind their friends how important it is to wear their lifejackets when they go out on the water.

A few years ago, they were out fishing in a Saskatchewan provincial park with another couple. Jim remembers asking his wife if she had caught a fish. That’s when he noticed that she appeared to be dozing off.
 

When our daughter Ruby was six months old, we enrolled in Red Cross lessons at our local pool. Those first few lessons were tough, with a crying unhappy baby but we stuck with it. Very quickly Ruby started to gain confidence, and with that a love of the water. She is so proud of every level she completes and looks forward to spending time at the pool each week. This past winter Ruby started synchronized swimming, and those Red Cross swimming lessons helped her pick up the choreography and strokes more quickly.  Those basic swimming skills are the foundation of all water activities like diving, snorkelling, paddle boarding, skim boarding and more. 
 

Swimming back to shore wasn’t exactly how the kayaking day trip was supposed to end. It was a warm, sunny day in July when Serge, his wife Carole and their youngest son, Xavier, decided to head out in their sea kayak to explore Skull Island, not too far from their cottage in southeastern New Brunswick. The water is usually relatively calm in the bay and warm, perfect for kayaking.
 

Ah August, when summer is in full bloom. It’s a beautiful time of year with hopefully plenty of sun and heat. It is also the time when you have to start thinking of autumn. For us, that means thinking of activities for our son, particularly swim lessons.
 

We all know the importance of actively supervising children around water. Drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional death for Canadian children ages one to four, and statistics show that two-thirds of toddler and infant fatal drownings happened during an absence in supervision. So what does active supervision mean when children are in, on or around water?

Learning how to swim is beneficial at all ages. Adults ranging from little or no experience to those training for a triathlon have options to enhance their water skills and comfort level through a number of Red Cross swimming courses.