Serious

So this is a very serious topic for me, but it's laying heavy on my heart to put it out there, so here it goes.

Drowning is silent.

I mean this quite literally. When your kiddos are in the pool, and they are drowning, it cannot be heard. You must always keep your eyes on your kids when they are swimming.

Here is what happened:

Case in point #1:
Last week I was at the pool with 2 other mommies and their kiddos. We were all enjoying ourselves just swimming around in a neighborhood pool. The kids were in an area that was approximately 3 feet deep (a little past their belly buttons), but then the pool makes a quick slope to the deep end. To stay safe, we posted ourselves at the slope, and faced the kiddos swimming in the shallow end. Carter and another little boy were playing out of the pool, so I exited to help them for a minute (leaving 2 mommies still in the pool near the kids) as I am getting back into the pool my friends turns around slightly, and says "Who is that?", to discover Cole has snuck past her (we still don't know how), and is bobbing nose in and out of the water trying to stay afloat. We heard nothing, it was a mother's instinct that she turned around to notice him.

#2:
Tonight we were at a friends pool, once again swimming with the kids. Carter was sitting on the pool steps playing as he always does. Brian is literally less than 2 feet away from him (in the water) talking to another parent. There were 10 adults swimming in this pool. I look at Carter playing, look over at Cole in another area (with another adult), look back, and Carter is under water except for his eyes. No one heard him fall off the steps. He was silent.

This is the point that I am trying to make. Please don't take swimming for granted (I'm sure you're thinking at this point, sure, she has room to talk, she almost had 2 drownings in a week), but what I'm trying to say is we had very capable aware adults within arms reach of both of these kids, and things turned out OK. Praise God. I guess up until this week I've been a bit naive to believe that if my kids were ever in trouble at the pool I would hear it. They would cry, splash, scream, get my attention... IT DOES NOT HAPPEN THAT WAY... DROWNING IS SILENT. They will most likely not splash (maybe not even when they fall in), their arms and legs are underwater swimming as hard as possible. They will not scream or cry, their faces are underwater. Please don't trust sticking your nose in a book, or laying on a floaty with your eyes closed that you will hear if your children are in distress... most likely it will not happen. Constantly scan the pool, do head counts, swim with your kids, be aware. For this reason, both of my kids were seen and pulled out instantly.

I hope it does not seem like I am on a soap box, but what I saw was the scariest thing I have ever seen, I don't want it to happen to anyone else. If this makes one person aware, it was beyond worth it.