After a challenging past year for children, with so many activities canceled or altered, kids are especially eager to enjoy the great outdoors and have fun this summer. When the sun is shining, the water in a pool or at the beach is nearly irresistible to a child. But for some, jumping in could be fatal.
Drowning is the leading cause of injury-related deaths among children ages 1-4 in Florida. Enough children drown each year to fill four preschool classrooms. One need only tune into our local news or read the paper to hear stories of recent drownings of young children in our own community. Such a tragedy here in Northwest Florida drives home these statistics in a personal, real way.
But drowning incidents are preventable. Constant, vigilant adult supervision of young children is critical in and around any type of water. With more than 100 years as a leader in water safety and swim lesson education, the YMCA is positioned to make a meaningful, positive change in our community.
At the Y, we teach children and their parents how to safely enjoy swimming and water play, and our teaching is proven to be effective. We are determined to push the statistics on childhood drowning deaths as low as they can possibly go.
If your child or grandchild, or a child you care about, needs the skills to be safe in and around the water, you can sign up for group lessons or get information about private instruction. Our curriculum starts with children ages 3 and includes age-appropriate classes from that age on up. We also offer a parent-child starter class for ages 6 months-3 years.
If you have a child with special needs, there’s a place for them, too. Thanks to a grant received from the Studer Foundation, our Y is in our second year of offering private aquatics instruction to children with special needs who may not be successful learning in our typical group setting.
If you don’t have kids, maybe you’re a dedicated swimmer yourself, or maybe you want to help the Y prevent drowning. We need you, too.
Your charitable support will go a long way toward preventing the heartbreak of a needless drowning death. When you give to the Y, you help us making swimming and water safety lessons available to more children in our community whose parents could not otherwise afford them. Your gift is truly an investment in the safety and health of a child – even a child you may know.
In a community surrounded by water, we know that water safety skills can help prevent families from experiencing the tragedy of drowning. The water should be a place of exploration, skill-building, and joy for all children. Together, we can ensure that for our community.
Email our Aquatics Director to learn more.