Taking the Kids™

Keeping Them Safe at the Water

It was less than a minute toward the end of a long, happy family vacation.

But, in the many years since, Kim and Stew Leonard Jr. have replayed every one of those seconds countless times – and would give anything to have them back. In those moments and surrounded by eight adults and a half-dozen kids in the family, 21-month-old Stewie Leonard drowned in the pool at a Caribbean vacation house.

“I thought my husband was watching him and he thought I was,” Kim Leonard said. She explained the family was getting ready to celebrate their daughter’s third birthday, and her husband was blowing up balloons as she put the finishing touches on the cake. The rest of her husband’s family – they’d all been vacationing together-- was lounging around the pool as the other kids played. The Leonards are a well-known Connecticut family, owning and operating the Stew Leonard’s Grocery store chain in Connecticut and New York renowned for being “The World’s Largest Dairy Store.”

But no amount of money – or loving family – was able to prevent the tragedy that day. Many drownings and near drownings occur while families are on summer vacation, says Dr. Heather Paul, executive director of the National Safe Kids Campaign (www.SafeKids.org), which is committed to promoting child safety and preventing injury. “People let down their guard on vacation,” Paul explains. “Rules may be more lax. But parents can’t take a vacation from safety.”

And despite countless public service campaigns, drowning remains a leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths in children.

Most were in the care of their parents: “He couldn’t have been missing for more than a minute or two when we realized,” Kim Leonard said. By the time they spotted his yellow tee shirt in the pool, it was too late. The toddler probably was chasing a balloon when he fell in the water, the family thinks.

Contrary to what many of us imagine, drowning, especially with young children, typically happens just this fast – and silently, the experts explain. A child can drown in the time it takes to answer the phone, give a waiter a lunch order or smear sunscreen on another child.

Family vacations in unfamiliar turf require extra vigilance on parents’ part at exactly the time parents yearn to relax. They can – just not both at the same time:

Designate one adult to watch the kids at all times and make sure everyone knows who is “on duty.” When it’s your turn, no snoozing on the beach, reading a new mystery, or drinking while the kids are in the water – even at a wading pool, even when a lifeguard is on duty.

Insist that older children, whether at the beach or a pool, must always swim with a buddy. Watch them so that they dive only in designated areas. Remind teens who are convinced they’re invincible that they too should never swim alone either or dive without knowing the depth of the water.

Everyone in the family – grownups too – should wear life jackets while boating.

Blow-up water wings, toys, rafts, and air mattresses should never be used as life jackets, the American Academy of Pediatrics says, urging that young children wear life jackets whenever they are near the water.

To help get these messages across to children, the Leonards, with Connecticut child psychologist Dr. Lawrence E. Shapiro, have written “Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim.” (The book with a free CD is aimed at kids starting at age two and is $4.95 from www.stewleonards.com. Profits go to the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation).

“What gets you more than anything is that this can be avoided,” says Kim Leonard.

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