When I was growing up I spent most of the summer in some state of wetness. My town had a pool that was easy for us to walk or ride our bikes to and it was the center of summer social activity. I took swimming lessons, I swam on the swim team, I became a lifeguard and then helped to teach kids to swim.

When I was a freshman in college the perfect opportunity came along – I could get a phys ed credit by earning my certification as a water safety instructor. I took the course, got my certification and then worked for the Red Cross or the YMCA as a swimming instructor. It was a great college job, and now that I look back on it, it really was the single college class that was ever directly responsible for me getting a job.

In all my years of working at pools, I never had to save a drowning person, thank goodness, but I did jump in for the dramatic rescue of a panicked baby bunny. Nobody was going to drown on my watch!

Unfortunately thousands of people do drown every year and more than 25% of them are children. The sad thing is that I think a lot of these drownings can be prevented by following a few simple rules.

• Learn to swim and teach kids to float and swim as soon as possible.
• Children should always be supervised in and around water.
• Never swim alone.
• It’s fun to play in the water, but there’s a line between fun and reckless. Don’t cross that line.
• You know those foam noodles, and inflatable water wings and inner tubes? Those are toys. They won’t keep a child safe in the water.
• If you want a flotation device that will keep you or a child safe in the water, get a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket and wear it properly.

So weather you’re at the ocean, the lake, the pool, or just the secluded swimming hole in the river, be safe in the water this year!

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