In an Instant – Water Safety and Children.
This post is sponsored by Nuffnang
You know those situations when your whole life changes, or could have changed, in an instant?
Am I the only one who remembers those moments in startling clarity, even years after the event?
Like that time when a huge 4wd drive ran a red light and just barely missed hitting my tiny little car packed full of me and my friends… just thinking about it makes me want to vomit. In a split second all of our young lives could have been changed. We were so lucky.
Or the day I decided to go to that ice skating get together… where I met my husband. I so very nearly didn’t go. How different would my life be now if I had stayed at home?
And of course, then there’s that moment when my obstetrician said the fateful words that turned our lives upside down…
“Definitely two babies in there.”
I can still hear his words ringing in my ears, and the stunned silence that followed.
The idea that I might have twins had never, EVER, crossed my mind. I was planning on starting out with just one baby… you know, to ease into the whole parenting thing. Then, if we didn’t totally lose our minds, and if that first actually child survived our parenting, then we’d think about a second one, sometime down the track.
But when he said those words and pointed out some greyish, blobby things on the ultrasound screen… in that instant our lives changed in more ways than we could ever have imagined. From the moment that single fertilized egg decided to split into two babies, one of the most difficult, most scary and most wonderful things I have ever done began.
In an instant our world was turned upside down.. just like it was for the other bloggers in the video above. And despite the scary things and the hard times, our ‘in and instant’ story has a happy ending… but that’s not always the case.
In an instant your world can be devastated…
It takes only 20 seconds for a toddler to drown.
Twenty seconds…
It’s just a moment, a few seconds…
When you nick out of the bathroom to answer the phone…
When you look away at the beach to check on the other kids…
When you duck inside while they are in the paddling pool…
Twenty seconds is all it takes for your ‘moment’ to be devastating.
Always supervise children around water …and make sure your life changing ‘instant’ has a happy ending.
For more information about water safety and children check out the water safety website.
{disclosure: I was compensated for writing this post.}
I’ve had many near misses and am always left wondering, what if? I never want to be in that situation with the kids.
I often think back over the course of my life and consider all the small moments that have led to where I am now. Living in Brisbane, married with 2 children, working from home. There has been pivotal moments that have led me to this point in my life but at the time, they were incidental decisions. There was one single decision that I made in my twenties that has led me in this direction, I am often thankful that I made it! Great post, I love reading things that really make me think.
Amy x
Thanks for reminding me about the twenty seconds that takes.It has made me stop and think of how my life and family have evolved from such things and are all the better for it.We need to be reminded sometimes.Life is precious stay safe.
A toddler drowned in Mandurah (near Perth) over night. Wandered away from her family while they were crabbing. I’m devastated for them and I don’t even know them.
wow!! such a powerful video!! 20 seconds is very quick.. will be keeping a close watch on my children near/in/around water xx
This video shares a very important message that is often forgotten as well as a big emotional blow. My heart goes out to any parent in that situation.
Such an important message and so scary to think that you are often just seconds away from tragedy.
Reading this post brought back my own very scary experience. We were on holidays in Bali. You walked out of our room straight to the pool. My partner said he would take the kids for a swim. I was reading a book inside but decided I should go out to the pool with Paul as I know how hard it can be to supervise both a baby and a toddler on your own in the water. I will be forever thankful that I made that decision, although I should have left the book behind in the room! My pool had a shallow end which just had a drop off into a deep pool, my partner was playing with our baby son, bouncing him up and down in his floatey. He had left our nearly 2 year old daughter in the shallow end and was distracted with the baby down in the deep end. He called me to look at something he was doing which brought my attention back from reading, I then looked around for our daughter and she was under the water, flailing about trying to find her way to the surface. It was the most terrifying moment, how long had she been under? I leapt in the water fully clothed and dragged her to the shallow end, she was coughing and crying and upset. I was crying and shaking and we both felt so so guilty and could not stop thinking about it for the rest of our holiday. What if, he hadn’t called me and I hadn’t looked up, what if? What if… we were far from home, far from a hospital in a strange country, how would we have even called an ambulance in a hurry? I kept thinking about how quickly it happened, how silent it was, there was no screaming. How lucky we were. It taught us both a valuable lesson and I never take my eyes off them for a second in the water anymore. One of us take a child each when we are in the water ( I know this is not possible when you have more than 2 though) This is a great post Kate and a very timely reminder for the holidays.
Thank you for your post. Having a pool and kids really has been a worry. My 4 year old boy is now able to swim by himself, but my little girl of 2 is not able to swim yet. Swimming lessons weekly and parent supervision all the time. Can’t wait for them both to be like fish in the water. Thanks for sharing! Let’s keep them save!