National Learn 2 Swim Day and National Water Safety Month Coincide with Little Otter Swim School Event
On Saturday afternoon, May 13, Little Otter welcomed children who were excited about taking the Stop Drowning Now Water Safety Challenge! Donations collected benefited Stop Drowning Now, a national drowning prevention program, and the Hope Floats Foundation, which provides scholarships for swimming lessons.
All enrolled Little Otter students were invited to the event. Parents watched excitedly as their little swimmers excitedly made their jump into the water – fully clothed.
The students had the personal attention of instructors so that they could have help in completing several series of jumps into the pool. The fully clothed part of the exercise was just one of the things that the kids thought was really cool about the exercise! After all, when else are kids allowed to jump in the water with their clothes on?
“It was great to see more than 200 children have the opportunity to test their water safety skills in an environment that mimics what falling in accidentally might be like. It teaches them about being safer in and around the water,” notes one of Little Otter’s owners, John Kirk.
Each of the afternoon’s sessions began with a “Dry Portion,” where the participants were given an explanation of the Stop Drowning Now Program. (The program is based on the principles that we can be safer around the water with safer kids, safer water and safer responses.)
Safety facts, rules and tips were shared. This portion is very important to the parents so they know as much as possible about the best ways to safely managing their children’s safety around water.
This message is, in fact, an important one to repeat since drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among children under the age of 5.
After the “Dry Portion,” the children and their parents went to the pool deck to line up for their Stop Drowning Now Water Safety Challenge.
Little Otter makes this challenge into more than simply jumps into the water. The children are led through several activities that help them to be aware of things that could happen around any body of water.
- They learn to swim in a life jacket.
- They learn the importance of never swimming alone and always with adult supervision.
- They learn to use objects around the pool to save someone in trouble rather than jumping in and putting themselves at risk.
- They do several activities where they are distracted and fall into the water or activities where they may be disoriented and have to find their way to the wall while in the water.
All activities are done with instructors less than an arm’s length away. There are also additional instructors on the deck. Groups were small to optimize the level of attention the instructors can give to each child.
Each year Little Otter does two Safety Days. This one coincided with National Learn 2 Swim Day and with National Water Safety Month. A second Safety Day is held in the fall. Little Otter provides these events – separate from the child’s lesson schedule and at no extra charge – so both parents can attend and so that the activities don’t consume any of their regular lesson time.
Safety Days are quite popular events that the children have lots of fun in participating. Parents also enjoy it because it provides the opportunity for them to learn along with their children and take pictures and videos to share!
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