Info for Parents, Guardians, Educators
Parents/guardians, babysitters, and educators all may have a responsibility to supervise children. When there are pools, spas, or other containers of water around the home or bodies of water in the area you are visiting, you must be aware of water safety principles that provide layers of protection for the children you are responsible for who are drawn to water even when you have no plans for swimming or water-based activities.
The Need for Constant Supervision
The number one reason for the tragic drowning of many small children is a lapse in supervision that allows the small child to gain access to water. Supervision needs to be combined with other strategies like barriers, alarm systems, etc. to prevent access, but always remember that constant supervision is key. This makes a safety system.
Specific water safety information is available on other pages for:
You need to supervise your children continues during bath time and when they are enjoying the water. Children under 5 should be within arm’s reach of an adult caregiver at all times. Older children don’t need to be supervised as closely, but you need to make sure they are playing safely and following safety rules. 
All rough play and risky behaviors must be stopped immediately.
If you a parent/guardian, your role as the primary supervisor does not disappear when your children are enrolled in swimming lessons or involved in recreational swimming supervised by lifeguards. Likewise, if you are a group leader or swimming instructor, you need to continue to supervise your group even if lifeguards are present.
Although most swimming instructors, coaches, and lifeguards are excellent supervisors, they have to watch entire groups of children or entire sections of an aquatic environment filled with swimmers. Sometimes lapses in supervision can occur with the best of supervisors, and, in the worst case, the supervisors we trust the most do not take their safety responsibilities seriously at all. In either case, your watchful eye on your own children may save their lives. (On more than one occasion, a parent during swimming lessons has been observed rushing from the bleachers to the water to rescue their submerging child before the swimming instructor or lifeguard even recognized that the child was in trouble!)
A “Big Picture” Aquatic Safety Plan
In, on, and around the water, parents/guardians and other supervisors of small children need a “Big Picture” Aquatic Safety Plan. This means you have taken everything into consideration to have a safe and fun day whether you are taking a dip in the backyard pool, spending the day on a boat on a lake, traveling to the tide pools of a beautiful rocky beach, etc. Here are some things to consider for your plan:
- Background
- Know how to swim and be water safe.
- Know how to administer first aid and CPR.
- Know safe places to be in, on, and around the water. Here is a checklist of safe places to swim.
- Preparation
- Dress appropriately for the activity and environment.
- Protect your family from the sun and the environment.
- Wear a life jacket when and where appropriate.
- Bring items you may need (e.g., first aid kit, cell phone, rescue equipment, towels, etc.)
- File a “Trip Plan” with a neighbor or loved one
- Setting Limits
- Apply general rules to the specific environment
- Never swim alone
- Swim in a supervised area
- Wear a life jacket in water craft and around cold water
- Follow posted rules
- Define a play area; recognize hazards
- Avoid the Dangerous “Toos” (too tired, too much sun, too far from safety, too hazardous or cold, etc.)
- Apply general rules to the specific environment
- Supervision
- Maintain constant supervision
- Enforce rules and limits
- Use the Buddy System for extra protection
- Emergency Action Planning
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