who drowned in a neighbor’s backyard pool yesterday after wandering away from her mother; it was some minutes before her absence was noticed and her mother went to look for her, only to find her lying at the bottom of the pool.
When will people ever learn? It is never safe to leave small children unattended around water!
Another summer drowning tragedy that could have been avoided. My heart aches for this family …
Was so sad to read that last night. 
My heart goes out to them. Stuff like that can happen really fast.
So true. We have always had a pool and no child that young is allowed in our backyard without some sort of safety floating device. We have them in all sizes and that is the first thing that is done when we have guests.
Toddlers are so fast. My niece’s 20 month son scooted away with a lot of adults standing around and went into the creek. Grace of God that he went in where it was quiet instead of a few feet away where the water was fast moving. They are so very fast and can be so very quiet. We whole-heartedly agreed with DIL when she put a harness and leash on GS!
Please do not rely on kiddie floaties as babysitters or life saving devices. Kids can slip out of vests or strip arm floaties and drown. There is nothing more effective than adult supervision!
(Still can’t shake off the image of that young kid on the bottom of our apartment complex swimming pool even though it had a happy end. Thank goodness I saw her seconds after she went down and yanked her to the surface. The sitter turned away for a minute…)
@Singersmom07 I’ve never really understood the controversy surrounding the harness! In Europe, harnesses are standard ‘parenting equipment’ In fact, we were in Europe when my daughter (18m at the time), gave us the slip. It was the worst few minutes (seconds?) of my life. I immediately bought a harness and, from that moment, used it for my twins, when necessary i.e. crowded places. I’d rather my kids were safe, than I’d be sorry
CC is where I learned the protocol of having the adult in charge of watching the pool literally hold a baton, and not engage in distracting conversations of leave the pool area for an instant until the baton had been passed. Maybe in this case they thought the gate was locked. Very sad. Are neglect charges really common for this kind of thing? That doesn’t ring true for this area.
@momo2x2018 I have never understood the problem with harnesses either. We started using them when our twins were toddlers and kept using them for the next 2. I’d rather have my child on a leash than lose one- nothing scarier. We have a pool with a fence and 2 alarms and still do not allow younger children in the back yard without adult supervision. It just takes a second for something to happen. We also lock the gate to our yard in case some neighborhood child decides to try out the pool. It has never happened but you never know. Years ago a grandson was staying with his grandpa next door and we invited him swimming. Grandpa sent him over with towel and trunks but neglected to tell us he didn’t know how to swim (he was about 8). He jumped right in without hesitation. Fortunately there were plenty of people in the pool to help him out. Since then, we have always made all new-comers to our pool do a quick lap (children-not adults).
Mom of three here—all 2 years apart. I and others would describe me as hyoer-vigilant. Yet, as toddlers, I certainly had the rare moment one would wander off when I was distracted with another and once near the Truckee River. Makes me sick 20 years later.
I started having the kids where a properly fitted life vest whenever we were near the water regardless if they were in the water or not. It would stay on the entire day. We live near the beach and rivers. Kids got used to it.
This happened to someone near and dear to me. Their next door neighbor had a pool and these neighbors were very, very diligent in keeping the gate to the backyard closed. However, one day there were workers there and although they’d been instructed about closing the gate, at some point they neglected to close it. The toddler saw the open gate and like a moth to a flame. They looked everywhere for the baby except next door because the gate was always closed so they were certain that toddler couldn’t be there. So very tragic.
Terribly tragic.
I hate backyard pools. Cousin’s toddler wandered off and mere seconds later ended up at the bottom of their pool. It was the kind that is in a lanai, right off the living room. She had turned her back to him for a few seconds.
He survived but had some brain damage.
In my town we are required to have pools fenced completely, even if your backyard is fenced. I still would not want one.
My kids were probably overprotected. When we went to the beach, I just made them wear a life preserver. I still watched them closely.
I visited someone just yesterday, and they had a pool right off their house, with NO fence around it. They live in a waterfront house, but I was till shocked they had no fence. I would just feel terrible forever if someone’s kid got hurt or died because I failed to put a fence around my pool.
The one thing I don’t understand in the midst of this tragedy, is that a midwife friend has set up a GoFundMe page to deal with the ‘medical bills and expenses’, with a $40k goal - That seems odd.
Ever seen an emergency room or EMS bill, @momo2x2018? Maybe they don’t have good insurance.
@AboutTheSame Yes, I have.
Bode Miller’s net worth is 8 million dollars, @aboutthesame. If he can’t afford this, no one can. It seems odd to me, too.
There can’t be any worse feeling for a parent than that your child needed you, and you weren’t there.
This has happened over the years to any number of celebrities and others. It gets reported more for celebrities.
Vigilance is the only answer, but not a particularly easy one, especially in a group setting with distractions.
@JenJenJenJen : The person who started the GoFundMe page may not be as privy to their personal finances as you appear to be. Or it may be a scam. Or the net worth may not necessarily be liquid. Beats me. I’m trying to be less judgmental.
@AboutTheSame It’s not a scam (parents posted link to GoFundMe on their respective SM accounts), and, I apologize that I appeared judgmental.
Regardless, its an insurmountable tragedy
Both our kids grew up around home pool. Each were fenced off by law, but we took things further. Doors leading outside would trigger a beep from home security system. The gate to the pool had a separate alarm. When kids would come over, all non-swimmers wore a wrist sensor. There was always an adult watching the pool. All this might sound like a bit much, but way too many kids drown each year where we lived.