Safety Around Water Blog

Five Essential Water Safety Tips To Know

 As temperatures rise, kids want to cool off, whether that’s in home pools, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, or oceans. And that means the risk of drowning is ever-present. With May being National Water Safety Month, now is the time for parents and caregivers to reinforce the importance of water safety and equip their kids with the essential skills to keep them safe in and around water.

As “America’s Swim Instructor,” the Y teaches more than 1 million children invaluable water safety and swimming skills each year.  The Y wants to make sure parents, caregivers, and children make water safety a top priority as they head back into the water this year.

 Here are five tips to ensure a safe and enjoyable swimming experience for all.

1. Never swim alone or without a water watcher. When children are swimming, make sure they are actively supervised at all times. Teach your children that they should only swim in locations where a lifeguard is on duty, or where a responsible adult agrees to watch the children in the water without distractions.
2. Supervise your children whenever they’re in or near water. Whether it’s bath time or taking a dip in a pool or lake, make sure your children are within arm’s reach at all times.
3. Don’t engage in breath-holding activities. Children should not hold their breath for a prolonged amount of time while swimming, as this can cause drowning and has several other severe physical side effects.
4. Wear a life jacket: Inexperienced or non-swimmers should wear a Coast Guard-approved life jacket.
5. Don’t jump in the water to save a friend who is struggling in deep water. If a child finds their friend in deep water unexpectedly, their natural instinct may be to jump in the water to try to save them. Even if a child is a great swimmer, a panicked person will overpower them and easily pull the rescuer underwater. The Y’s Safety Around Water program teaches the “reach, throw, don’t go” concept of using a long object to reach for them and pull them to safety. By using this technique children can help their friends without compromising their own safety.

Riptides Swim School

At the YMCA of Virginia’s Blue Ridge, we offer Riptides Swim School at three of our locations: Botetourt Family YMCA, Salem Family YMCA and Kirk Family YMCA. Our progressive program is designed to teach swimmers the basics through the mechanics of all four strokes. Once a swimmer has graduated from our swim school, we offer the Riptides Competitive Swim Team! 

Y Splash

In addition to Riptides Swim School, we also offer our Y Splash program to those in local school districts. Y Splash is a free water safety program that is provided to all 2nd-grade students in local schools. Over the course of the program, children participate in three days of in-class water instruction covering various topics regarding water safety while also discussing the core values of the YMCA: caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. Children receive instruction and learn skills that allow them to be safe when at a pool, on a boat, at a waterpark, or at the beach!

At the end of the program, all swimmers participate in a swim test. Swimmers who do not pass the swim test receive two months of free lessons! The purpose of this is to help these children have a better understanding of the water and provide them with the necessary tools to be safe around the water. Learn more about Y Splash here!

Test, Mark, and Protect

Additionally, we work hard to ensure that our pools are safe through our Test, Mark and Protect program. All children age 12 and under are given a swim test to understand their comfort and safety level in the water. Those who can not pass the deep water swim test are given a shallow water zone where they can safely swim without being in water that is too deep for them. Our lifeguards are also trained every month on how to prevent and respond to emergency situations in the pool. 

The YMCA continuously works to promote the importance of water safety throughout our programs, policies, and training programs. We work to create a safe environment for all who enter our aquatic facilities, but we also want to make an impact on our communities by sharing these values and lessons with members of our community!