Letter: Frightening

Dear TLS, please share this message with parents and caregivers.

I’m shaken to the core by an incident I witnessed today, sitting at our bungalow colony’s swimming pool [we don’t have a lifeguard yet]. I suddenly heard a shriek and saw someone jump into the water and pull out a young child who jumped into the deep end.

The parent who was supposedly watching their son, was sitting there on their phone and TEXTING! The child fell in and they didn’t even NOTICE he fell. Someone else did and jumped in.

Baruch Hashem the child is fine – he was transported to the hospital to be monitored.

It got me thinking, so many times have I seen lifeguards and parents alike using their phones while watching the pool, it takes a split second for a tragedy to occur Chas Vesholom.

LET’S UNDERTAKE NOT TO USE OUR PHONES WHILE WATCHING THE POOL.

AND WHEN HIRING A LIFEGUARD, MAKE IT CLEAR IN THE CONTRACT THAT PHONE USE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND THEY WON’T GET PAID IF THEY DO USE THEIR PHONES WHILE LIFE-GUARDING.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. When I hire I make it clear and I make them all sign a paper that they will be fired on the spot if there cought using cell phone so we have a few phones on the wall for emergency

  2. I have been a lifeguard for years and I agree 100% with the writer. It only takes a second for a kid to fall into a pool, and phones are the biggest distraction. Also there should always be more than 1 lifeguard at a pool just in case one lifeguard is distracted. Bottom line, safety is priceless!

  4. Any lifeguard caught with a phone in their hands should not only be fired should also be reported to the Board of Health for possibility of removing his or her license. Countless lives are in their hands and buy them having something that distracts them can cause injury or death to another

  5. agree with the letter writer and agree with the comments. Just curious though, why is any of this different then texting while driving? Why are we not screaming as loud about that as well? More accidents and deaths occur from distracted texters operating a vehicle then pool deaths

  6. I dont want to give too many identifying details but my husband did work at a customer’s house and his employee noticed children drowning and the moms were schmoozing. The (non Jewish )employee who jumped in with a tool belt still attached and almost drowned himself, keeps saying the ladies talk talk talk why aren’t they watching their kids..he yelled to alert the moms originally and they were so distracted they didn’t even hear him .he is still traumatized he had nightmares for months (one of the children r”l didnt make it ). Please please please , if you are the one watching do not take your eyes off the pool even for a second!!!

  8. As a swimming instructor and lifeguard teacher I get many calls for lifeguard recommendations and am sometimes surprised at the lack of responsibility some parents show when choosing a lifeguard.
    I have seen so many immature lifeguards and have no idea how they passed the course.
    Parents be careful to always choose a responsible lifeguard and pay the extra few dollars, your child deserves it.

  9. The scary part is, if you look away for that minute and an emergency happens, you don’t hear screeching tires or a yell for help or smell fire. Ch”v someone slips under quietly and you can miss it.

  11. I was at a lake years ago holding my daughter’s (3 year old) hand in a foot of water. A woman started talking to me for a few seconds. In that time my daughter was underwater. Didn’t see it happening and still had her hand. She was OK, but I wasn’t. Thinking about it still bothers me today. It only takes seconds.

  12. Yeah also do not just drop your kids off at a pool you rented for the hour and leave. The home owner is not watching your child. Hence why you should not rent your pool. One it is illegal and 2 you are responsible if that child drowns. Not the parent that thought it was okay to just leave them for the hour. Absurd.

Comments are closed.


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