The statistics are clear, yet you rarely hear about it from your pediatrician: drowning is the THE leading cause of death for children 1 to 4. For every fatal drowning, five children have submersion injuries that are often life-long.

As soon as your child is mobile, it is time to get them in lessons. There is water everywhere and your child is 100 percent curious. They WILL find water and you need to make sure they are prepared.

Because of the nature of our business, we see toddler drownings or the result of non-fatal drownings daily. We personally know families who have lost a child to an aquatic accident and those who now caretake a small child after an aquatic accident.

When families make jokes to instructors during lessons for "drowning my child," it is offensive, given our passion to eliminate childhood drownings. Please do not say it to your instructor when we see drownings daily. We know it's hard to watch your child cry doing the hard work of learning to swim but we can assure you many, many families would give anything to hear their child cry again.