This is good, I'm so glad you posted it. I watched an rewatched and rewatched so that I would recognize the signs. I grew up on a lake, a small lake, and across the lake was a a resort type park, mainly the beach with a picnic area and a few amusements. Every year we would watch from our side of the lake, when all the swimmers left the water and went on shore we knew somebody had drowned. A mother would run screaming to the lifeguard she couldn't see her child and they would clear the water. It was always sad and spooky for us as kids.
The house next door was a huge family vacation type house, I bet there were 12 bedrooms in that house, the city family would come out on week-ends and summer holidays. One of the city kids, maybe 10/12 years old was on the pier with his little cousin, kid must have been about 3 years old, we were swimming right next to them over on our shore we saw them on the pier, they weren't swimming they were just on the pier. The little boy just silently went in the water and the bigger cousin didn't notice right away, and then he noticed him missing and saw him in the water. It was not over the head of the bigger cousin but it was over the head of the small child. The bigger boy jumped in and pulled his cousin from the water screaming HELP!
The houses were all up a big hill, he is screaming and the family comes pouring out of the house. I know the house next door to the neighbor to the with the family vacation house is Mr Millbrook and he is a nurse, so I haul *ss running out of the lake and up the hill like I never did before screaming, "HELP MR MILLBROOK! MR MILBROOK A KID DROWNED" (I mean i was screaming LOUD). I never even made it to his house and Mr Millbrook comes hauling *ss out his front door and runs down the hill over to the unconscious child. He gives mouth to mouth and Hot D*man if he didn't revive that kid right in the middle of that hill between the house and the lake. I'll never forget it, the little boy vomited. The child was fully unconscious and Mr Millbrook saved him.
With this healthy bit of childhood experience I can say i had a very healthy fear of my children drowning. We had a permanent campsite and camper we would go to on week-ends the big draw being the sandy bottomed lake. I'll tell you what, I took my kids swimming every morning and i never took my eyes off of them all day. I had a spot under a shade tree that I staked out early in the morning. From that spot I could watch both kids, the younger one in the shallow area and the bigger on in the little bit deeper area which eventually was over her head. I never read a book, I never read a magazine, I watched my kids every single minute they were in the water. When I had to go make lunch they got out of the water and came back to the camper with me. I cannot even count the hours that I spent under that shade tree watching my kids at the beach. Once in a rare while if I was watching one I would take my eyes off the other and when I looked back if I didn't immediately see them I stood up and went to the water, I was very very attentive to the risk that can happen to kids and water. I did that for years, I never took my eyes off of them when they were in the water. My husband worked week-ends he would come to the camper late at night after work and then leave for work from the campground so it was just me. Never not once did I ever have my children in the water that i wasn't giving them my full and complete attention.
The most dangerous in my opinion are rivers, people who swim in rivers, like that story Eddie Walker told about the woman swimming in a channel, a channel is like a river and people do not realize although the surface is calm and smooth, underneath can be a strong current.
I must have drilled my fear of my children downing into my daughter, I passed it on because my grandchildren started swim lessons I think when they were just 3 years old. They are 10 years old and have been on a local swim team since they were maybe 6 years old. Quite young, I didn't even know they had swim teams for kids that young, but they do. They are still on the swim team they are now 10 years old. But even still my daughter raises them the same way, never take your eyes off your kids when they are in the water. I'll never forget screaming for Mr Milbrook and him barreling out his front door. I'll never forget that little boy, drowned and unconscious while we were swimming not 50 feet away.
