Be Water Wise

by Amanda

This week is National Drowning Prevention week and as an Instructor Trainer with the Lifesaving Society of Canada and former trainer with the Canadian Red Cross I cannot stress enough that EVERY SINGLE DAY you should be water wise and aware!

Drownings happen, they happen more often than we would like and it’s generally when we least expect them to happen.  Did you know, according to the Lifesaving Society’s Drowning  Fact Sheet, that drowning is the second leading cause of preventable death for children under 10 years of age.

Who is most at risk for drowning? Toddlers and young children are most at risk followed by men between the ages of 18 and 34.  Young children do not have the physical ability for swimming nor do they mental ability to understand the dangers of water.  They are curious, the water looks interesting or fun and before you know it an emergency has happened.  I call it an emergency and not an accident because accidents are something that cannot be prevented.  Drownings can be prevented.  In my opinion there is no reason for a drowning to ever occur. 

It comes down to the Lifesaving Society’s message “IF YOU ARE NOT WITHIN ARMS REACH YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR”, it’s a simple message that needs to be taken more seriously. I have seen many times parents who quickly leave their child by the pools edge to grab a lifejacket, favourite toy or a towel to wipe the chlorine away from their eyes. It takes a split second. I have jumped into a pool to quickly grab a curious toddler more times than I can count. If the child would have been within arms reach of an adult I would not of had to jump in for the rescue.

Teach your child a few simple rules when around the water, whether it’s the local wading pool, the bathtub, cottage or community centre. Start from a young age, before they are even able to communicate with you so it becomes second nature to them. Repeat, repeat, repeat! Repetition is key to assisting your child to remember the rules of the water.  Then remember Monkey See, Monkey Do! Display water safe behaviour that you would like your child to mimic.

1. Stop! Look! Listen!  They STOP before entering the water. LOOK around to see if there are any hazards around the water and to make sure you, or another responsibility adult who they know, are right there within arms reach.   Then LISTEN for the adult to tell them they are able to enter the water.  Also make sure that the adult always enters the water first, protecting the child from any water drop offs or deep water levels.  You may also create actions of having your child STOP with their hand up making a stop sign. LOOK, make a motion of looking through binoculars or gazing around the water.  LISTEN, place your hands to your ears to show that you are listening for your name and to be told its safe to enter.

 2. Stop! Look! Go Slow!  With the same actions as above for the STOP and the LOOK, teach your child to always enter the water SLOWLY. Whether the water environment you are in is familiar or not conditions may have changed since the last time you entered.

 3. WITHIN ARMS REACH!  Your child should understand this concept so well that if you happen to forget they should remind you or follow you out of the water. 

The next time you go for a family swim and are splashing around with your loved ones please remember that even though its a fun activity its a dangerous place to be. Be safe and water wise!

Amanda is mom to Dominic, 2 months, and can be found blogging about life, product reviews & giveaways at Namaste Mommy, PTPA Panel of Moms & Tools for Schools.  When not feeding and changing diapers Amanda is busy with her company DeGrace Energetics & Little Lotus.

p.s. Amanda is having a great giveaway on her blog at http://namastemommy.wordpress.com for the PTPA Award Winning Cuddly Wrap It’s a great way to keep your baby close while running after your other children around the water!

McDonalds (any one with a play structure)

by Shawna

Like many parents, I have a love/hate relationship with McDonalds. I know, it’s accepted, even expected, by a lot of people that I wrinkle my nose in distaste at the mere mention of the golden arches. The fat, the salt, the sugar, not to mention the factory-like approach to food (excuse me, “food”), the promotion of monoculture farming, the contribution of the fast-food industry to obesity, both childhood and adult, the rampant, in-your-face commercialism of their cross-promotions, the inculcation of the disposable lifestyle mindset… well, you get the idea. I’m supposed to shudder delicately and assert that my precious snowflakes would never eat at such a place, what with their 100% organic, chock-full-of-whole-grains, locavore lifestyle. And yes, this is the ideal I suppose.

But here’s the thing: I live in the suburbs where choices for fast, kid-friendly food can be hard to find outside the big chains. We’re busy. And sometimes, well, we’re on the go, and it’s lunchtime, and we didn’t get a chance to pack those nutrient-rich kelp-and-brown-rice rolls that toddlers love so much, and it’s the middle of winter and hey, lookee there, a McD’s with a play structure, and our kids have spotted it too and know that playing and acquisition of toys happens there, as well as consumption of not-nutritionally-perfect-food, and they’re asking us to stop.

So we go in. We order a couple of Happy Meals (one cheeseburger with no pickles or mustard, one McNuggets) with milk, and ask for no salt on the fries of the first and compromise by swapping apples slices for the fries in the second. We ask for two different toys, but might settle for two of the same if one is a cool little car but the other is a mini plastic prostitot which we cannot condone in my daughter’s toy collection.

We head into the steamy pandemonium of the play area that is littered with wet winter clothes and boots and full to the brim with shrieking children (not mine of course, who are just the model of restraint I bet all the other parents wish their kids would emulate).  With a little luck we snag a seat and shovel food into the kids, and once they’ve eaten they scurry off to join the throng, leaving us with the other harried-looking parents to eat our own nutritionally-dubious choices. (Yes, I know they have salads and chicken fajitas, but darnit sometimes I just want a few fries and a Big Mac.  Or at least a cheeseburger with lettuce and a squeeze of Mac Sauce added.  And here’s a tip: if you ask for a packet of Mac sauce they don’t charge you, but if you order the sandwich with the sauce on it they do.) 

Really, we’re just happy that a few bucks have bought us some known food (my youngest has an egg allergy so it’s nice to know what doesn’t have egg in it — McNuggets, at least in Canada, have no egg — without having to take the word of the teenage staff), in a warm place where the kids can burn off a little energy. And when the weather warms up, we can balance it out by going to farmer’s markets for our culinary adventures.

Shawna is mom to 4 year old Sage and almost-2-year-old Harris.  She has  been writing online since 2003, and her latest project is a fledgling photography blog.  Like many parents, she has a computer stuffed with thousands of pics of her kids, and a ton of plastic Happy Meal toys underfoot.