The mother of a child who drowned three years ago in the US state of Texas has made an impassioned plea for parents to be extra vigilant when spending time at the pool with their children.
Kailey Holian’s son Weston was seven years old when he drowned metres away from her while her back was turned.
In a Facebook post, Holian writes frankly about water safety and the constant risk of a child drowning.
“Whatever you’ve seen on TV, just forget. It doesn’t happen that way. We have been conditioned to look for certain distress signals that just won’t happen.”
‘Quietly slipped under’
Holian relived the horror of drowning. “There’s no splashing, no yelling for help. Nothing about drowning will catch your attention until it’s too late. Drowning happens underwater. You can’t yell for help underwater and you can’t splash below the surface.”
She said in “less than a minute he quietly slipped under and his lungs filled up.”
Holian warned that as a parent you should never believe you have covered all your bases. She said she had “checked all the boxes a good mom would check before going to the pool”. Things such as:
- swim lessons since he was a baby
- he knew how to swim
- being CPR certified
- taught children to respect the water
- was vigilant
She says parents have to treat pools and oceans with the fear they demand.
“Water doesn’t care. It doesn’t have feelings. Water doesn’t signal to you when something is wrong, and your kids can’t either.”
Learning from experience: Kailey’s water safety tips
- Drowning is silent. Don’t wait for the splashing.
- It CAN happen to you. It happened to me.
- Treat water with fear and respect, not as a toy or park.
- It doesn’t matter if they can swim. It can happen to anyone. It happened to Weston.
- SURVIVAL SWIM LESSONS! This is different than learning to swim. This is teaching our kids as young as babies how to save themselves in an emergency water situation.
- Doing all of the above still isn’t enough. Never get comfortable. Never believe you’ve covered all your bases. Always look for more ways to stay vigilant.
She recounts how she did CPR on Weston and he threw up the water.
She says he was awake and alert when the emergency services arrived.
“Our ambulance ride was “precautionary” they sedated and intubated him “as a precaution” but he never woke up . . . every mom’s worst nightmare was now my reality.”
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