A PSA - do you know what drowning looks like?

[Melalvai]

My daughter just took the Lifeguard Red Cross training. The first day of it, she came home for lunch feeling pretty freaked out. She had learned that every year about 4000 drownings occur in life-guarded bodies of water. That most of the life saving techniques she was going to learn that weekend she would probably never have a chance to use, because if she was doing her job right--watching for a drowning before it becomes a drowning--she'll never have to use them. That lifeguards who had a drowning on their watch said "It happened so fast" and "It happened so silently".

I could tell she wanted to quit the training that day, out of fear for the possibility that someone might drown on HER watch. That does seem a heavy burden for a 16 yr old! She didn't quit, and passed all the tests except Deep Water Skills because the outdoor pool is getting repaired right now. So, soon she will be certified as a lifeguard! She probably won't have a job as a lifeguard this summer as she doesn't actually turn 16 until July, but maybe in the fall at the indoor pool, or next summer.

[Jolt]

My daughter just took the Lifeguard Red Cross training. The first day of it, she came home for lunch feeling pretty freaked out. She had learned that every year about 4000 drownings occur in life-guarded bodies of water. That most of the life saving techniques she was going to learn that weekend she would probably never have a chance to use, because if she was doing her job right--watching for a drowning before it becomes a drowning--she'll never have to use them. That lifeguards who had a drowning on their watch said "It happened so fast" and "It happened so silently".

I could tell she wanted to quit the training that day, out of fear for the possibility that someone might drown on HER watch. That does seem a heavy burden for a 16 yr old! She didn't quit, and passed all the tests except Deep Water Skills because the outdoor pool is getting repaired right now. So, soon she will be certified as a lifeguard! She probably won't have a job as a lifeguard this summer as she doesn't actually turn 16 until July, but maybe in the fall at the indoor pool, or next summer.

I'm sure she'll do just fine--she sounds like a conscientious person who will pay attention and prevent a situation from getting bad in the first place. Once she is 16 she will likely have no problem getting summer jobs--my experience was always that there were more places looking for lifeguards than there were lifeguards! In over ten years of lifeguarding (summers and part-time while in school etc.) I had to grab a few kids who got in over their head in the pool but no serious incidents.