It Only Takes a Second: Saving My Daughter From Drowning (Twice)

As a parent, you hear so many horror stories, and many of them stay with you. Images from news articles become burned into your brain. Headlines make your stomach turn. And while so many of them should be important lessons that will help us keep our children safe, what I never understood before having children was how the ‘almosts’ could have the same effect.

Every time we pack up the endless supplies needed for a family trip to the beach, lifejackets are always on the list. “What do we wear anytime we are in the water?” I always ask on our ride there. “My lifejacket!” my daughter would happily reply. She never argued. In fact, both my children like them, much to my surprise. This day was no different. We dragged the seemingly 100-pound wagon filled with a child and beach items down to the sand, slathered them in sunscreen, and promptly put their life jackets on. I was with a friend and her children and they all alternated between swimming, eating, and digging. My daughter asked to take her life jacket off to eat, and after she informed me she just wanted to build sand castles. With a promise to put it back on if she went in the water, I let her leave it off.

This next scene is so seared into my memory, my heart still races as I type it. I was standing on the edge, holding my son’s hand as he kicked the water. My daughter came up behind me and barely touching her toes to the water, scooped up some to bring back to her sand castle. The next seconds are a blur and crystal clear at the same time. My son, on my right, fell backward and I bent down to upright him. While beginning to stand back up myself, I heard my friend scream my name. I looked up to see my daughter flailing, about 10 feet away from me, with barely her eyes visible. She was trying to get her mouth above water to gasp any air she could. Within seconds I was to her, but it felt as though I was moving through cement. By the time I reached her and lifted her up, she was choking on salt water and gasping. She coughed a few times, with no water coming out, and I felt confident that her lungs were okay. But I will never ever forget the sensation of her little body clinging to me in the cold ocean.

We were both crying and shaking as I finally regained enough sense to start asking questions. “Why did you do that?” “I don’t know,” was all she could tell me. And truthfully, maybe she doesn’t know what compelled her to go into the ocean. I do believe she understands the concept that water is dangerous, but at almost 4 years old, there is still an element of disbelief and wonder. She seemed to maintain a healthy fear of the water for the rest of the summer. I believed that was the one scare she needed to know the danger of not wearing a life jacket, but I was wrong.

The same incident happened at a birthday party last weekend. I’m sure it could be said that I wasn’t paying enough attention to her, and the reason I bring our terrifying experience out in the open is to tell you that it can happen to anyone. You can be watching them like a hawk. They can be nowhere near the pool and you turn your head for one second to throw something in the trash and turn to the same terrifying sight of your child gasping for air.

Thankfully, our story is an ‘almost,’ and I cringe at the thought of what could have happened. The things I have learned sound so simple, almost silly to write out. It only takes seconds. It can happen to you. While our children seem wise beyond their years sometimes, it just takes a moment like this to remind you that they are children. So if you see my children this fall, it will not come as a shock to you why they have funny looking tan lines that resemble a lifejacket, as I am never letting them take them off again.