Springtime increases family fun opportunities thanks to water-inspired pastimes! Make a splash with Marco Polo pool games, waterpark rides, slip N’ slide escapades, beach picnics, fishing excursions, and, my personal favorite, boat rides in the Florida sun. It’s literally and figuratively refreshing to experience spring fever with a wave of what’s to come as summer nears.

But let’s not water down the harsh reality of spring and summer safety: Drowning is the leading cause of injury death among children aged 1–4 years and the state of Florida reports more than DOUBLE the national average of drowning deaths among children. More than two-thirds of these deaths occur in swimming pools, so please take every possible precaution, such as the installation of pool fences and alarmed doors, teaching your children to swim and, of course, supervision of all water activities. However, the average home contains many other potential drowning hazards aside from pools. The U.S. Swim School Association advises parents with young children to regularly conduct a home water safety audit to determine where risks are and what steps to take to enhance protection. The U.S. Swim School Association offers the following tips:

• Create a list of rooms/spaces (including garages, sheds, front/backyards, and other property structures) to survey.
• Identify common risk factors including buckets, diaper pails, toilets, ice chests/coolers, pools/hot tubs, ditches, post holes, wells, etc.
• Locate unique risks, for example, kitchen – a sink filled with soaking dishes; laundry room – utility basin containing residual cleaning water; backyard – displaced buckets that may collect rainwater; bathroom – standing water resulting from faulty drains or leaks; or yard – decorative fountains.
• Fill your bathtub with the amount normally used for bathing and use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to drain. Never leave the bathroom unsupervised after a bath until that time has elapsed.
• Proactively combat prospective risks with toilet lid locks, pool fences, and other barriers. Remind yourself to change habits; for example, post a note beside the sink to curb overnight dish soaking. Aside from a pool fence, consider similar landscape barriers surrounding fountains, fishponds, or ditches.
• Correct existing safety threats by repairing drains, properly storing buckets/containers (upside down to limit water collection) and play pools, etc.
• Learn emergency lifesaving skills, including first aid and CPR.