“Where’s Anya?!?!” was what they all heard screamed at the pool that Friday afternoon, and because of the intensity of my daughter-in-law Celeste’s voice, everyone immediately scanned the area for her. Meredith, my youngest, first noticed her three-year old niece, whose motionless body was entirely submerged except for the crown of her head. She dove in, grabbed Anya’s limp, blue body and handed her up to Anya’s father, my oldest son, convinced they were too late to save her.
But something wonderful happened as her body was lifted; she began to cough. The relief they all felt that day is beyond description and we all thank God for protecting little Anya. They held her so closely and tears of what almost happened mixed with tears of gratitude filled their eyes. The normally bouncy Anya was withdrawn the rest of the day, shaken by the trauma of the incident. Hours after the near-tragedy, she was sitting in her father’s lap, chanting quietly to herself, “Can’t breath under the water…I don’t want be with the fish…can’t breath under the water… don’t want to be with the fish…”
What’s surprising about this was that four adults were watching the four children, two of them standing five feet from where Anya was submerged. I’ve since learned that children can slip into the water and drown a silent death in a matter of a couple minutes.

Four adults were watching the
four children, two of them standing five feet
from where Anya was submerged.

"Adults always say, 'This would never happen to me,' " says Stew Leonard Jr. owner of the New England supermarket chain that bears his name. "But somehow he (his two-year-old son] just slipped into the pool unnoticed in front of a large group on a bright sunny afternoon. By the time we noticed, it was too late." In 1989, he drowned in a pool, with many adults around, while the family was on vacation. Leonard now leads efforts to educate others on water safety with his book, “Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim – A Child’s First Guide to Water Safety.”
Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death in children ages one to four, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "Parents may think that if their child falls in the water, they will hear lots of splashing and screaming, and that they will be able to come to the rescue," a CPSC spokesperson said. "Many times, however, children slip under the water silently. The key to preventing tragedies is to have layers of protection. This includes placing barriers around your pool to prevent access, using alarms on doors that access the pool, and being prepared in case of an emergency.” When ocean swimming, suggested guidelines for adults and children are to always swim with another person, swim near a lifeguard and be aware of rip currents. The NJ Red Cross has a complete list of water safety tips at www.njredcross.org/safetyCenter/summerSafety.asp.
Along with praying for protection for our precious little ones, keeping an undistracted eye on them while they’re in the water is a must to fun and safe swimming.

ART HALL, publisher