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Clothes Swimming Practice Pays of for Joshua & Natasha
Recently, my husband organised a surprise family ticket on a hot air balloon for my 40th birthday. Our family were in Sydney at 6:30am in the morning and we took off in the balloon basket with 12 people altogether.
The weather was great, the experience was beautiful, a great sunny summers day.
All of a sudden the balloon pilot was forced to land in Prospect Reservoir in Horsley Park, after an "unexpected gust" pushed the balloon towards power-lines. Unfortunately, our balloon landed very, very hard at the edge of the dam and within minutes we were dragged into the middle of this dam. The pilot was calm, and there were 10 adults and my 2 kids.
When the basket stopped it was floating, but the water was rising quickly. The children were dressed in jeans, jumpers and sneakers, because it is cool in the air when riding so early. They were both scared, and started climbing up on me. I told them this was only water and reminded them both firmly that they can swim and that they must swim to the edge. I was also scared, but did not let them know.
Then the basket tipped and I told them "swim to the edge!" The water was dark and very cold as we all swam across the dam.
The children were fine and listened to my instructions, swimming straight to the edge. Once they were out of the dam, they were devastated and freezing cold. They were both so brave but once they got out of the dam and realized what they did, they just fell apart.
Joshua and Natasha have spoken of their experience and related swimming with their clothes at lessons they have had at Mckeons. They have been with Mckeons for about 6 years, and now I can see that their safety lessons have paid off! On clothes swimming weeks, I remember thinking that these classes are not that useful but you just never know what could happen. A combination of having already experienced wet clothing and being strong swimmers has definitely paid off for my children.
So thank you Mckeons, your safety swimming classes have been well worth it!
Quote: Siria Thomas, Program Director of McKeon's Swim School says: "Water safety and survival skills are a necessary part of any learn to swim program. Clothes swimming is part of our survival week lessons, and many children are shocked to feel how difficult it is to swim in heavy wet clothes. We teach them to float on their back to rest, and then swim back to the side. It is wonderful to hear that our clothes swimming lessons helped Natasha and Joshua out of this scary situation. We are proud of them for being so brave."
Connor's Story - a warning to parents that constant supervision is necessary around all types of water:
One family picnic almost turned to tragedy for our family. We were visiting a local public garden with friends and our children, Hugh 7, Lachlan 4 and Connor 2 climbed over rocks, up trees and through bushes. They were having a ball.
It was almost time to go and the boys wanted to go and feed the ducks. The pond had a fenced rotunda that went out into the pond a few metres, we could see it from where we were sitting.. One of the older boys, Ben, a teenager offered to start walking with them. It was fenced so we agreed. My husband, Matt, was just about to head down to the pond when we heard Hugh scream. We all stood and ran towards the pond expecting that the children had seen a lizard and thought it was a snake or something silly. Then we saw Ben running for the lifesaving devise. My legs went to jelly. I felt as though I was running through mud. Matt took off at a pace I don't think he could do in any other circumstance. He threw out his wallet, keys and phone as he ran. I fell to my knees. Pathetic.
I saw visions of a dead child or a severely disabled child. Who was it going to be?
Matt saw little Connor in the water and leapt over the fence assuming Connor was standing he tried to land flat so he didn't hurt himself in the shallow. This created a wave and Connor went under the murky water and didn't come back up. Matt reached into the meter deep water and found his blond hair under the surface pulling him out. Connor was as white as paper. We took off has clothes and wrapped him in a woolen blanket, carried him up to the picnic area. I held him over the still warm BBQ. He was icy. After a few minutes I began to worry as the colour in his lips had gone he was blue around the eyes and mouth.
Luckily, there was a nurse at the picnic and she took his pulse and then drove us straight to the hospital. In the car the heater was on full, we were boiling, Connor was still like ice. His eyes began rolling around in his head. The nurse told me to sing to him. I couldn't think of any thing as my head was to full of panic. He tried to fall asleep."Keep him awake" the nurse ordered. At the Hospital the nurse who drove us grabbed him off me and ran inside. She banged on the door of the triage nurse and pushed past, saying things like, infant, hypothermic, and shock.
Connor was in ICU for a little while and moved the children's ward once he was stable. He stayed over night and was woken hourly, and asked a few questions such as, "who is that sitting next to you?, What's your name?" .Reflexes where tested and then back to sleep. He was classed as a ‘near-drowning' which means he was still at risk of complications including death, for up to 24 hours post incident. Thank God, he was fine.
A few weeks later we revisited the gardens to find out what happened. The fence as it turned out was not safe at all. Most of the palings were 10cm apart as required for pool fences but on closer inspection the corners were between 14cm and 24cm. Connor had gone through and no one had heard him. It wasn't until the boys looked about for him noticing he was not with them that Hugh saw what he thought to be some duck feathers under the surface and then he realised what he was looking at. Connor's hair.
Jett's Story
As printed in the Illawarra Mercury, 05 August 2008.
Jett McEvoy from Bulli could have been another statistic of childhood drowning, but at just 3 years old, he is a survivor.
Jett was recently riding his three-wheeler bike around the concrete surrounding their backyard pool while his mother was cleaning the pool.
Jett somehow managed to ride his bike off the pool edge and into the pool, falling into the icy water, bike and all, fully clothed in a tracksuit and shoes.
Luckily, Jett's mum, Diane, saw what happened but did not panic, interested to see how her little boy would react in this situation. To his mum's delight, while the bike sank to the bottom of the pool, Jett kicked and paddled his way back to the side and grabbed the edge of the pool, climbing out as she got there.
Diane accredits Jett's reaction to the swimming lessons he has been taking at McKeon's Swimschool with his teacher, Debbie Harman, for the past 3 terms. "I believe that had I not have been there, he would have survived this fall in, thanks to his swimming lessons and our continued reminders to him of what to do if he falls in".
With national childhood drowning statistics at a tragic high - we lose the equivalent to a kindergarten class every year in drowning accidents - all children should learn how to swim. Siria Thomas, Program Director at McKeon's Swimschool stresses that "even in winter, children can and do drown and it is important that parents keep in mind the layers of protection - such as ensuring adequate pool fencing, supervising children around water at all times, continuing swimming lessons, and learning CPR."
Diane says that all of the time and effort they invested in swimming lessons has been well worth it, "7 months ago, Jett was not confident enough to even enter a swimming pool and had no swimming skills whatsoever. Jett has proved that swimming lessons can make all the difference and we would recommend all parents to put their children into lessons, even throughout winter, so they are better prepared for the swimming season".
Jake's Story...
The following feedback was received this term from Michelle Parkinson, after her son accidentally fell into a pool....
My son, Jake Townsend, swims at McKeon swim school. Over the Christmas break, he fell into his Nanna's pool while he was fully clothed. He was playing with his remote control boat and we were watching. He panicked at first, but something kicked in, and he turned and made his own way to the edge and climbed out. I thank McKeon's Swim School for this and their lessons with the kids clothes on. His instructor was Nathan.
Charlotte's Story
Jake was lucky that he was being supervised, but also that he had the experience with clothes swimming during his lessons, he was able to relax enough to get himself back to the edge. As many accidental fall-ins will occur with clothes on and goggles off, we believe that practicing survival skills swimming with clothes on is a necessary part of your child's aquatic education. For more information, talk to your deck supervisor.
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