The following blog post is brought to you in partnership with Nemours Children’s Health – together we develop our camp safety standards, best practices and provide tools and resources for families to keep kids safe, healthy and happy. Learn more about our partnership & find a Nemours location near you. 

May is National Water Safety Month, and with summer just around the corner, there’s no better time to talk about one of the most important life skills your child can learn: how to swim.  

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4, according to the CDC. Each year, more than 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths occur across the United States — roughly 10 per day. And unlike what you’ve seen in the movies, drowning doesn’t look like splashing and screaming. It’s silent. It’s fast. And it’s preventable.

At ESF Camps & Experiences, water safety isn’t an afterthought — it’s woven into the fabric of every camp day. For more than 40 years, daily swim instruction has been a cornerstone of the ESF experience, because we believe that learning to swim isn’t just a summer activity. It’s a life-saving skill.

But whether your child swims at camp, at a local pool, or at the beach on vacation, every family can benefit from a refresher on how to keep kids safer in and around water this season. 

Water Safety Tips Every Family Should Know

The following is an excerpt from the Nemours KidsHealth blog from June 2022.

Drowning is a leading cause of death in children and teens. Among young children, most drownings happen in home pools or hot tubs. In teens, drowning is more likely to happen in oceans, lakes, and rivers. It happens fast and is usually silent. Be sure to use all these layers of protection. You never know which one will save a life.

Start Swim Lessons Early — and Keep Them Going

Research shows that formal swim lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by up to 88% in children ages 1 to 4. That’s a powerful number. But it’s also important to remember that knowing how to swim doesn’t make

 anyone “drown-proof.” Lessons build a foundation of skills and water confidence that should be reinforced season after season.

At ESF, campers receive daily swim instruction from American Red Cross-certified lifeguards and instructors, beginning with water safety fundamentals and progressing through stroke development and technique refinement. Younger campers receive an initial skill assessment and advance at their own pace, with weekly progress reports sent home to parents. 

Download our Parent’s Guide for Choosing a Swim Program & Safety Checklist for helpful tips and guidance on what to lookout for that makes a swim program safe. 

Assign a Water Watcher

There should always be an adult water watcher while children are in and around a pool or any body of water. The water watcher should be within an arm’s length of young children and beginner swimmers. They should always keep their eyes on kids who are in the water, even older children who can swim. The water watcher should not use a cellphone, soc

ialize, drink alcohol, or do anything else that might be a distraction. At a party, have adults take turns as water watcher. Even if a lifeguard is on duty, a water watcher also should watch kids.

Use Fences/Alarms/Covers

All pools (including above-ground pools) and hot tubs should have a fence around them with a self-closing, locked gate. Add even more protection with door and window alarms that chime when opened to alert a parent that a child is going outside (you can find inexpensive, simple alarms online) and pool alarms that go off when someone enters the pool. If you can’t fence around a spa or hot tub, be sure they are securely covered when you aren’t using them.

Learn CPR

Every parent should know how and when to do CPR. It brings blood to the heart, brain, and other organs and starts breathing until health care providers can give the person advanced life support. Done correctly, CPR can save a person’s life.

Use Life Jackets

Children and adults should wear Coast Guard-approved life jackets while on a boat (even if they can swim). Life jackets that are in a cabinet can’t protect someone from drowning if they are suddenly thrown into the water. Water wings and other “floaties” do not protect children from drowning. Life jackets and “floaties” should be used along with — not instead of — adult supervision.

No Alcohol or Drugs

Alcohol and/or drug use increases the risk of drowning while swimming or boating. Talk to your teens about these risks. Set a good example by making sure all water watchers and boat drivers do not use alcohol or drugs.

Check Up on Home Safety

Empty all bathtubs, baby pools, and water buckets after use. Put locks on bathroom doors and toilets and consider more home water safety improvements.

Talk to Teens

Even teens who are strong swimmers are at risk of drowning. Talk to your teens about never swimming alone and other ways to stay safe in the water.

Why We Swim Every Day at ESF

At ESF, we include daily swim instruction across our Day Camp programming because we know that a few weeks of consistent, expert-led practice and guidance each summer can be transformational. We’ve watched kids go from clinging to the pool wall to swimming confidently across the deep end. We’ve seen the pride on a camper’s face when they pass their deep water safety test. And we’ve heard from parents — year after year — that the swim program is one of the things they value most about the ESF experience.

That kind of feedback isn’t just about strokes and kicks. It’s about a child who feels stronger, more capable, and safer around water for life.

This Water Safety Month, we encourage every family to take one meaningful step toward water safety. Enroll your child in swim lessons. Refresh your CPR training. Have the water safety conversation at your next family dinner. Because every layer of protection you add is one more barrier between your child and a preventable tragedy.

Ready to give your child the gift of water safety and confidence this summer? Find your ESF location to sign up for our Traditional Day Camp.

May is National Water Safety Month, an annual awareness campaign, with family resources and support, is presented by the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, the American Red Cross, the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, and others. 

Read more on this topic from our partners at Nemours Children’s Health: