Doing this could save your baby's life

Gulf News

Full article here: Experts stress early swimming lessons https://gn24.ae/82bbfb2013bb000  See more at https://gulfnews.com/videos  Police have called for fences, gates and greater supervision after twin boys aged two and a half drowned in a neighbour’s pool in Ras Al Khaimah last June 6, but water safety experts say procedure and education is just as important.          #BabySwimming #PoolSafety #PoolAwareness

Transcript

00:00Water is the only place where they can move freely.

00:06In light of a spate of recent infant pool deaths, there have been several calls from

00:10the authorities to install pool fences and pool covers.

00:14But what about educating pool users from an early age?

00:17OK, so Gemma, you're obviously an advocate of pool fences and pool covers, but you also

00:22say that it's important to get kids used to swimming or at least water awareness from

00:27an early age.

00:28Is that right?

00:29We want them to be confident.

00:30What we're trying to do is water awareness, just getting them comfortable being in the

00:35water.

00:36We don't want, obviously, them falling in, but if they do fall in, that they don't have

00:40just a panic when they are in, and they just get a sudden panic, so that they know that

00:47that's the water, they know what their body can do in the water, and they have enough

00:51time for a parent to go and help them.

00:54It's not that we want them to fall in, but there is an awareness of what's happening.

00:57What is this amount of thing in there?

01:00How that feels on their body?

01:02What does it make on their breathing?

01:05That stops you breathing, so you need to know.

01:07And then we teach you techniques just to try to hold on and then call for help when they're

01:12a little bit older.

01:13And there's even an awareness that, obviously, this is dangerous.

01:15If you actually do lessons, then the kids will have the understanding that they should

01:19only jump in when their mum and dad is around.

01:22You saw earlier, we had the tiny babies, obviously, tiny babies not yet, but we are then, we're

01:27making the parents aware of the feeling of how it is being in the water.

01:32So it creates educating parent and child.

01:35When they're more this age there, they're starting to be aware.

01:39And then through exercises, that's why the lessons are important, through exercises we're

01:42telling them, don't jump into the water, that's what's going to happen to you.

01:46Sometimes we let them jump and we wait a little bit to pick them up so they understand what

01:52happens if they are to jump in.

01:54So it's educating the little ones and you certainly can see when they know what's happening

01:59that they respect.

02:00And it's giving them instruction and respecting and knowing that they're not allowed to jump

02:05in.

02:06Something can happen if they jump in.

02:08We see it from this age already.

02:10So even from this age they can learn rotation, flotation, propulsion, holding on to the sides,

02:15they can learn these things.

02:16We teach that from an early age and then from about one and a half, two years old, they

02:22are starting doing that.

02:24We cannot say that 100% of the children do that.

02:27We encourage that, we teach the parents and obviously the more that they go and they practice

02:31the easier.

02:32But we have like 15, 16 month old children that they do turn around and hold on.

02:38We start getting them holding on at 8 months when their reflexes, their ability starts

02:43to be there.

02:44They start holding on and then from here it develops to all the rotation, pushing from

02:48the wall and it all goes linked with the age.

02:51But all that happens below three years old.

02:54So that's why it's important to create an awareness how important early swimming is

02:59for the parents and for the children because the parents need to be as well educated on

03:04the risks.

03:05Why did you think it was so important to bring your child along from such a young age?

03:09Yeah, well, I mean exactly.

03:10Living in this country where you're surrounded by swimming pools and water features as well,

03:16we just felt that it was really important with our first daughter and now with our second

03:19that if you were somewhere, you knew that if they fell into the water or something that

03:23they would at least give you a chance to get there and give you a couple more seconds to

03:27get there and it was just a safety thing from that perspective.

03:30And also of course living in a country like this where you get to enjoy swimming pools

03:34on a regular basis, you want them to be able to swim so that they can enjoy their time

03:38in the pool really.

03:39And you can enjoy your time.

03:40And yeah, exactly, you can relax a little bit more as well, yeah.

03:42So how long have you been doing lessons so far?

03:44Is this your first lesson today?

03:45This is the first lesson with her, yeah, and our first daughter, she started at a similar

03:50age of three months old, so for just over two years now she's been doing lessons.

03:54She's my second daughter doing Swimming Wonders, my first daughter I did also when she started

03:59when she was seven months.

04:01And it's very important for them to have, to encourage them to go underwater and for

04:07me also to feel safe to go swimming pool with them.

04:11So and she's improving a lot, she's already going underwater.

04:15It has been just two months that she started and she's already feeling very safe.

04:19Are you confident that if she were to wander to the pool by herself and accidentally fall

04:24in she would know what to do?

04:26She already knows that she has to go to the borderline and hold herself.

04:31Pool fences and covers are vital, but so is early education and it's heartening to see

04:36that this message is getting across to parents.

04:39Ashley Hammond, Golf News.

04:44Go to www.golf.co.uk to find out more.

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