CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS TERRIBLE TRAGEDY AND MY HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES GO TO THE BURGESS FAMILY.

PLEASE, PEOPLE, TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PASS ALONG TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW A LIFE SAVING TECHNIQUE TAUGHT IN MOST MAJOR CITIES BY TRAINED PROFESSIONALS. YOU CAN GET THE NECESSARY INFO FROM THEIR WEBSITE, infantswim.com. THIS METHOD TEACHES CHILDREN, ESPECIALLY INFANTS AND TODDLERS, HOW TO SAVE THEMSELVES SHOULD THEY HAPPEN TO FALL INTO A SWIMMING POOL, LAKE, ETC. ALL OF MY GRANDCHILDREN HAVE TAKEN THESE CLASSES AND THEY ARE TRULY MIRACULOUS. IF A CHILD HAPPENS TO FALL INTO WATER, EVEN FULLY DRESSED, THEY ARE TAUGHT TO FLOAT TO THE SURFACE, KEEP THEIR HEAD ABOVE WATER AND THEN SWIM TO THE SIDE OR CONTINUE TO FLOAT FACE UP UNTIL RESCUED. THEY LEARN WHERE THE AIR IS!!!! THEY ATTEND 20 MINUTE CLASSES DAILY (WEEKDAYS) UNTIL THEY CAN PASS A VERY STRENUOUS TEST AND CAN EVEN TAKE REFRESHER COURSES AS NEEDED.

TO CONTINUE TO HONOR BRONNER AND SAVE OTHER CHILDREN IN HIS MEMORY, PUSH TO EDUCATE PARENTS ABOUT THIS. I TELL EVERYONE I MEET WITH YOUNG CHILDREN AT SWIMMING POOLS. PLEASE, PLEASE CHECK OUT infantswim.com AND HELP PREVENT SUCH TRAGEDIES FROM HAPPENING TO SOMEONE YOU KNOW AND LOVE. POST THIS ON EVERY SITE YOU POSSIBLY CAN THAT SPEAKS OF BRONNER AND BEYOND. THIS WOULD BE THE GREATEST WAY TO HONOR BRONNER’S LIFE. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!

Parents – there is another resource to save our children from drownings, its called Infant Swimming Resource. Please visit this website and find an instructor near you. It is worth every minute and penny spent. http://www.infantswim.com.

I am 41 and have been around water my entire life. Many many pools, and I grew up on a lake. I started water skiing when I was only 6. I have seen some horrible things that were so simply preventable. Starting when I myself was only 8 years old, I pulled a 2 yr. old from the water w/ her mother only about 5 feet away sitting on the edge of the pool talking w/ a fellow country club member. I was a very sensitive child and it really shook me up. But undoubltedly the most horrible water incident I have witnessed happened when I was about 11-12. My family was on the lake w/ our houseboat docked in it’s slip. We were facing the dam at Norris Lake here in Tennessee. 2 men who were out motorcycle rinding stopped at a “beach” area directly across from us where you could walk down into the water. They undressed down to their bluejeans and walked into the water and 1 man dropped down and never came up alive. The other man screamed for help and many people from their docks got in their boats and raced over, of course my father whom I’ve witnessed assist in several accidents throughout my life was one of the first over and he grabbed our ski rope and went down into the murky water and w/in a few dives was able to locate the man, wrap the rope around his body and bring him to the surface. I remember very clearly to this day seeing that blue-tinted lifeless body being pulled up. It was so horrible and my poor dad had many nightmares about it and actually dove off his bed while dreaming about it and broke his nose. We were told that this man could not swim and they were just going to go in far enough to get cooled off, but as many of you know, there are drop offs in lakes. I still love the water today and raised 2 adult children around water and my 9 year old loves it as much as I always have. I can honestly say that my children were never and my daughter will never be near water w/ out me supervising. It has never even been questioned by my kids. Also, I am CPR and first aid certified and am careful to keep my certifications up to date.

I am what you would call a safety freak, as a mom to a 17 month old and 2 year old I feel its my job to anticipate the unthinkable. A few years ago, my cousin was inside the house nursing her son, and her first son was playing inside when he noticed (this was a rental house as they were building a new one) there was a toy next to the pool. Well he went outside to get it fell and was knocked out and fell into the pool. He nearly drowned and was life flighted to the children’s hospital. The next day the landlord fenced in the pool (something he’d been promising to do) and they bought a pool alarm for extra measure. Its not just pools, I also have a cousin who died when her dad backed over her with his company’s van she was just 2 years old. Back up cameras should be standard just like seatbelts.

Lisa P, I agree that fences should be required for all pools. In the united states though we sometimes pass laws or requirements that only are for a city, county, or state. I hope that one day the us passes a law that requires all pools to have a fence. When we get a pool that is the first thing we will put up.

This is exactly why we are having our pool removed in a few weeks….I have a very busy 2-year old and am expecting another baby in June, and at this point would rather have a backyard with a nice swing set and slide than a pool.

i have another tip that you haven’t got on there: always always always check to make sure the pool gate is latching properly. do it regularly.
i have a friend who has a nearly 2 year old daughter. they have a well fenced pool in their back yard. in the winter of 2006 we had a fairly big snowfall and unbeknownst to my friend the weight of the snow on the gate had pushed it out of alignment just enough that it didn’t latch properly. it seemed to latch fine but it wasn’t. the baby was 11 months old and my friend was hanging out her laundry and baby leaned on the gate and it opened. my frined found her face down in the pool. thank god she was ok but it was a very near miss. since then they check the latch every single day.
don’t ever take for granted that the gate is working properly. always check. i can not stress that enough.

In my area, you must have a fenced in yard if you have a pool. You do not have to have a fence around the pool though. A child who’s family I am very close to fell into his family’s pool at his home. He snuck out a door that his parents didn’t know he could unlock and fell into their 18inch high inflatable pool. It is not just big pools that are risks. PLEASE get an alarm for your pool!! They do make floating alarms for soft-sided pools.
Maybe a pool alarm could have saved this child from many years of therapy and rehabilitation.
Please make sure that, as a parent or member of any community, you are CPR certified! A few hours of instruction could very well save a life.

In Australia I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to have a pool that isn’t fenced off seperately from the rest of the yard. We also have great pool/water safety adverts running on TV. There’s on that has a silly little jingle but my little brothers actually sing along:

“Fence the pool. Close the gate. Teach your kids to swim it’s great. Supervise. Watch your mate. And learn how to resuscitate.”

Most Australian kids have swimming lessons both outside and at school because there’s almost always a water source around, whether it’s a pool, river, lake, dam or ocean.

I cannot believe that it is not mandatory in America to have a fence. In Australia, if you own a pool you MUST LEGALLY have a 5ft fence surrounding the pool with all access points to have childproof locks.
With Spas they must be covered at all times when not in use. This is just common sense when it comes to safety!!!
This point baffles me, as we have all seen the way children act around water, some are scared and some think they can just dive right in!
Even with training your child I still cannot believe parents would trust them around such an open space of water, Really throughout winter etc. you dont re-inforce as much as you should so the child will forget.
If you want to own a pool a fence should be an automatic extra!!!

Ya know they always say it just takes a second for a child to fall in and for your life to change. I say it takes way more then a second, for a child to wander out to a pool, fall in then drown means that child is unsupervised for some time not a second. I am not condemning anyone who has gone through this yet I have pulled 2 toddlers out of pools at two different times. We were all close to the pool and yes it took a second, for each child to fall in and for me to grab them as well as others who tried to help. But for a child to wonder outside then fall in then drown means that child is unsupervised for far too long. Like I said no one deserves this, but children need to be watched at all times and the parents need to know where they are at all times when a pool is involved. Don’t depend on a fence, lock or a pool alarm, be accountable for the safety of your kids. It is such an avoidable tragedy and I think so many parents have become so complacent. Everyone has child locks and child proofing which is wonderful I have it too but those measures to do take the place of proper supervision.
Ok I will get off my soap box now