Do Life Jackets Prevent Drowning?

My son received his first college acceptance letter recently. Yayyyy!!! I'm so happy for him. It also means that he's leaving home in less than five months. Nooooo!!!! It can't be. I'm going to miss him so much.

On to the subject at hand.

Do life jackets prevent drowning?

Yes, if worn. A mother I know from my former gymnastics instructor life contacted me the other day to enroll her children in swim lessons as soon as possible.

The reason for the urgency you might ask? A year ago the mother's daughter had a near drowning experience. For full details, you can click here.

Just the other day, virtually the same thing happened to her son. Here's what she wrote. (The names have been omitted):

When I spoke to her on the phone, she filled in the gaps. Here's what she told me. (The names have been changed):

Before letting her son, John out, Susan (John's mom) made sure that he was wearing his life jacket since the pool at their rental complex is six feet from her front door and not surrounded by a fence.

Susan's next door neighbors (a father and daughter) were out by the pool, and the father, we'll refer to him as Tom said that he would watch the children.

Tom was watering plants and supposedly keeping an eye on the kids.

Susan went about her business while periodically looking out her window to make sure everything was okay.

Well the last time she looked, John was in the pool sans life jacket and floating facedown.

She bolted out the door and pulled him to safety. Thankfully he fully recovered.

It turned out that John had taken off his life jacket. Something that Susan did not know he could do.

Tom's daughter, who is five years old, let's call her Tiffany had a bike with training wheels. Well, John decided to ride it after taking off his life jacket and ended up in the pool with the bike in tow.

Virtually the same scenario that happened a year ago with Susan's daughter.

John told his mother that Tiffany pushed him in the pool.

John rides Tiffany's bike often. Tiffany likes to give him a gentle push as he takes corners around the pool since he slows down at that point.

So it's entirely possible Tiffany's gentle push helped him wind up in the pool.

Susan explained that when she arrived at the scene in rescue mode, Tiffany was standing there stunned looking at John floating. Just stood there in silence. Probably in shock.

You might be wondering why didn't Tom see any of this? Well, he was watering plants and not actively watching the children.

Pretty much anything can go unnoticed if there is no one actively watching, especially drowning.

Drowning is silent. Click here to see just what I mean.

Susan told me that her son always asks for his life jacket now before heading out the door. He never did that before.

Thank goodness John is alive and well and will probably think twice before removing his life jacket again.

To answer the original question in more depth.

Yes, life jackets do prevent drowning. In some cases, however, if someone gets hit in the head and lands in the water face down then the life jacket serves no purpose.

There are many different types of life jackets, and some of them automatically turn the person so that they're facing up.

So in the case of the unconscious person, he would eventually wake up and be able to swim to safety or depending on the circumstances be hopefully found by a rescue crew.

Even if your child is wearing a life jacket, it is essential to provide close and constant supervision.

Thank you, Susan (you know who you are), for sharing your story. The more people that we can reach with stories like this, the more lives we can save. So please, if you've had a similar experience, I would love to hear from you.

Love the water,

Tessa

P.S. Get the FREE water safety app to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water. It includes kid-friendly videos and quizzes. Search the iTunes app store for Swim by American Red Cross or click here. For Google Play you can use the same search parameters or click here. It provides the latest in water safety guidance to help ensure your family stays safe in, on and around the water.

P.P.S. To start your child on the path to becoming water safe, click here.