I called my sister Sherry this morning and she was on her way to her daughter Aimee's to babysit her 3 kids. Aimee was going to be with her husbands family after a tragic accident to their little 5 year old Penelope. Penelope is the daughter of Aimee's husbands brother. Sherry didn't really know many of the details except to say that the family was at a party and that they found little Penelope at the bottom of the swimming pool. We have a pool and everytime I hear a heartbreaking story like that I want to put our home up for sale. We take precautions - having had a child protective fence installed and making sure that there is an adult outside when kids are swimming or around the pool - but accidents happen. When we had our pool fence installed by David Foy with "Guardian Fences" he told us that there are 5 things you need when you have a pool. I think they are things you need even if you don't have a pool but go to pools or lakes or even have a bathtub.
1st) Teach your children to swim - at Barefoot gymnastics where Maia takes gymnastics they also teach swimming. They said that their goal is to teach even the youngest kids to be able to swim back to the edge of the pool, boat or whatever.
2nd) Adult supervision at all time. Even in the bathtub - a child can drown in the time it takes to turn around and grab a towel or the phone.
3rd) Have a protective pool fence installed around your pool that is at least 4 feet tall.
4th) Doors leading to the pool should be kept locked at all times. Don't depend on an alarm that dings if the door is opened or closed. We all get used to the sound and it becomes part of the background noise.
5th) Don't ever consider your children are "water smart and safe" even with all the steps above accidents happen and they can drown. All the steps are needed.

I watched an interesting Oprah show last week. A woman left her baby girl in the car asleep for 8 hours while she was as work. She was a principle at a school and normally her husband dropped the baby off at daycare but had a dental appointment that morning so had asked Brenda (the mom) to do it. When she backed out of the driveway she realized that it was too early to drop the baby off - the day care would not be open - so decided to run her errands (donuts for the teachers on their first day back to school) and then drop the baby off after. Brenda got busy with all her stuff and eventually forgot about the baby sleeping in her car seat in the back. She rushed to school and didn't give her little girl a second thought. At 4:00 pm a teacher walked past Brenda's car and saw the baby - her arms discolored from the heat. It was August and around 100 degrees. She ran inside the school and yelled at Brenda that her baby was in the car. They rushed out to find the baby dead. The point of the show was to "SLOW DOWN". We get in our routines - rush around and don't remember getting from point A to point B. Whether at a party, church, driving, the store or even in our own homes - we need to slow down. Don't become distracted and allow accidents to happen. Easier said than done but soooo important. Have a safe summer!!!
My prayers are with the Fox family!