HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Pools, lakes and water parks are opening up across Central Georgia for the unofficial start to summer, but swim instructors said kids need practice before they make a big splash.
A May report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said drowning is the leading cause of death for kids under four years old. Julie Bragg was a swim instructor for nearly 50 years. She said drowning happens easily.
"It would be an easy way to die. Once the lungs get full of water you're gone," Bragg said.
Before kids jump into the summer fun at the pool, swim instructors want parents to make sure they take swim lessons to protect themselves.
Trish Miller is the CEO and founder Swem School. She said the numbers didn't surprise her because she almost drowned.
"That unfortunately shaped a lot of how I saw the water and how I saw swimming as a leisure activity — something I didn't necessarily need to know. I didn't see it as a life saving skill at the time," Miller said.
Caleb McKinney is a lifeguard and certified instructor at the Tommy Stalnaker Aquatic Center in Warner Robins.
He said drowning happens so quickly that people don't realize what's happening.
"Drowning will even happen with people in the water beside the kid or near them that just don't realize because the kid is just kind of right under the water, just staying in one place, but not able to come back up," McKinney said.
The American Red Cross said their swim programs have taught more than 2.5 million people how to survive and navigate the water.
The aquatic center offers swim classes for everyone. McKinney said it's safer to get kids in water as young as six months.
"It is much more dangerous to not have them have the lesson and then be in the water later than it is to put them for the lesson and they'll be a stronger swimmer later," McKinney said.
Bragg said parents need to be in the water to help teach their kids.
"They had to learn how to work with their child in the water before they put them in floaties or sometimes even after they'd done that. Then they have to unlearn that vertical position," Bragg said.
Bragg said the vertical position is what leads to drowning. McKinney said kids who don't know how to swim should wear a vest instead of floaties.
"Because the ones that go on your arms can just slip off like they're not safety devices...they're just toys," McKinney said.
The Red Cross has tips for all swimmers. They suggest people do not swim alone, have a water watcher, wear a life vest if they can't swim and use a life-saving device in case of an emergency.
It's better to reach the person struggling with your hand or throw a floatation device instead of jumping in the water yourself since "you could be in danger of drowning yourself," the Red Cross says.