SUPERVISE
  • Never leave babies or toddlers alone, including near toilets, bathtubs, or buckets of water.
  • Supervise with your eyes. Drowning is a silent event -- young children don't splash, cry or call for help.
  • Make sure your children are carefully supervised at pool parties or other water events.
  • If your child is missing, look first in the water.
ELIMINATE POTENTIAL HAZARDS
  • Children can drown in small amounts of water. Empty all buckets, containers and wading pools immediately after use. Store them upside-down and out of children's reach.
  • Don't leave filled wading pools unattended in your yard.
  • Keep toilet lids shut and use toilet locks.
  • Pay attention to open water. Be aware of undercurrents and changing waves and undertows when at the ocean or lake.
  • Do not let children dive into water unless the child has learned proper diving techniques, an adult is present and the depth of the water is greater than 9 feet.
PLAN AHEAD
  • Children should learn to swim. Enroll them in swimming lessons taught by qualified instructors. If you don't know how to swim, enroll with your kids!
  • Adults and kids over age 13 should learn infant and child CPR.
  • Know which of your child's friends and neighbors have pools. Make sure your child will be supervised by an adult while visiting.
  • Install four-sided isolation fencing at least 5 feet high, equipped with self-closing and self-latching gates, around home swimming pools.
  • Keep rescue equipment, a telephone and emergency numbers by the pool.
  • Pool alarms and pool covers can offer an extra layer of protection. However, do not rely on them to keep your kids safe; they should be used in conjunction with fencing and constant supervision.
TEACH SAFETY
  • Know how to use rescue equipment and where emergency phone numbers are located.
  • Use floatation devices carefully and make sure children understand that these devices are keeping them afloat. Only U.S. Coast Guard approved life jackets are designed to keep kids safe. Always wear these when on a boat.
  • Kids should always swim with a grown-up. Swimming alone is very dangerous.
  • Kids should look in mom or dad's eyes and ask before getting into water.
  • Walk, don't run, on pool deck or on dock.
  • Never dive into shallow water or into lakes or rivers, or under boats, raffs or docks.
  • Kids should be taught not to reach into water for a ball or toy. Ask a grown-up for help.
  • Kids should throw a floating object to a struggling swimmer and get a grown-up right away -- they should not attempt to swim to a struggling swimmer.