Getting your kid ready for Labor Day weekend
Read the bottom, it could save your kids life this weekend if you’re near a pool. I’m not selling anything, this is mostly about recognizing drowning signs and how to perform CPR. It’ll take you two minutes to read and understand.
If you’re in the United States (and I assume you are because our demographics say most of you are,) then you’re probably about to see (or have seen,) a slew of baby-related articles on getting your infant or toddler ready for labor day. This isn’t one, this is about getting you ready.
One of the things really to pay attention to is with many many people on a three-day drinking binge it’s time to make sure your safety seats are tight, the straps are correctly adjusted, and you’re planning your commutes for safety.
I’ll generally point out that it’s the parents who are the most influential in how an accident happens or turns out. In most cases wrecks are the result of two bad drivers, or at least one who’s not driving as defensively as one should. Not all cases, I know.
That and sunscreen. Don’t forget about sunscreen. Nothing beats a burned beat kid who can’t sleep and everything hurts.
Also with so many people flocking to pools, drowning and secondary drowning symptoms are things to watch out for. Make sure you realize the symptoms of those, keeping in mind on a holiday weekend (or weekend in general,) your chances of getting a doctor in time to save a life goes down significantly because you know, doctors go on vacation at inconvenient times.
Recognizing drowning (excerpt from Slate Magazine)
You can read their entire piece here, but this portion was lifted by them from an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene magazine, which describes the Instinctive Drowning Response:
- “Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.
- Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
- Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
- Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
- From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”
/end excerpt
As a note, you probably want to read the story they posted, it’s pretty scary with a parent thinking they were playing with a child who was actually drowning.
Secondary drowning
If your child inhaled water, keep an eye out for extreme fatigue later on, trouble breathing, or changes in behavior as these can be the signs of lung issues which could be indicative of secondary or dry drowning.
You can read up on WebMD here about it.
Learn CPR now (no really right now, 36 seconds)
I’m lifting this from Washington.edu, here’s a 36 second video
As they slightly change it every few years and that’s a couple of years old, find out what they’ve changed if you have time. If not, hopefully that will do the trick for you.
Have fun, be safe!
