
Grandson Kyle and son-in-law Glen at the ocean in Cocoa Beach Florida. We were only there for a day, but we had a blast playing in the huge waves. In fact there was a surfing contest going on that Sunday. A couple of times the waves literally knocked us off our feet.
Ah, but that is not what this blog is all about. It’s about our first day in Orlando as we enjoyed our condo-side pool. It was a zero entry pool so the little guys could start off nice and shallow, and it gradually went to 5 feet on the deep end. Around 1:00 o’clock Monday afternoon I was playing catch with Kyle in the pool. Two little brothers were playing with us for awhile. One was 5 years old and the other 2-1/2 years old. They got tired of playing with us, and wondered off to play elsewhere.
I was sitting in about 1-1/2 foot of water with my back resting on the side of the pool, as Kyle and I continued to play catch. All of a sudden a woman jumps up from her lounge and yells” Bubba!” I looked to my left, and little 2-1/2 year old Bubba was bouncing after a ball in water over his head. I don’t even remember moving, but I was there in a millisecond! I grabbed his arms and hoisted him above water. He spit out a stream of water, and started to cry. His mother was there by then, as I handed him off to her. She thanked me, but then scolded Bubba for not wearing his “floaties!”
My take on that is “Hey your the mother, you should of made him wear a life jacket or floaties!” If you notice Kyle has his life-jacket on in the picture, and always had it on in the pool. Another point of interest is that there were at least 40 people in the pool when this happened, and one guy was only 4 feet away from a drowning child. Don’t count on others watching your kids when their in the water. Most people are preoccupied with their own activities, and a tragedy could happen right next to them and they wouldn’t know it.
Summer is just around the corner. Pools and swimming are great fun, but can also be very dangerous, especially when little ones are around water. Be diligent, and never let your guard down when planning water activities. Teach your kids to swim as early as you can, and make them wear some sort of flotation when enjoying summer fun. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Mike