Parents can help protect their child from drowning this summer by following the “Safer 3” water safety tips Academy Swim Club instructors are sharing with the community.

In partnership with the Safer 3 Water Safety Foundation, swim club instructors have spent the last five to six years teaching the “Safer 3” message not only to their own students and parents, but to young families at preschools and elementary schools across the Santa Clarita Valley.

Dakota Miller of Academy Swim Club talks about the “Safer 3” water safety program.

“Drowning is actually the No. 1 cause of accidental death in children under the age of five, and it is the second cause of accidental death in children under 14 in the state of California,” said Dakota Miller, program director at Academy Swim Club in Santa Clarita.

He continued, “We just want every kid to learn how to swim, especially here in California where most (people) are surrounded by water. There’s swimming pools in almost every backyard, so we just feel that it’s really important to push that message and protect the kids from water as best that we can.”

The “Safer 3” program is centered around three key components of water safety: safer water, safer kids and safer response.

To have safer water, Miller encourages parents to keep a barrier around the pool, which can include a fence with a safety latch or self-closing gate. Miller also recommends parents use two different types of alarms to alert them of their child’s activities.

“Pool alarms are a very good idea just in case anything breaks the water,” he said. “Also by putting alarms on your windows or doors, (you can) make sure that your kids don’t sneak out when they’re unattended in the house.”

Safer kids means teaching children how to swim at an early age in case they do accidentally fall in a pool or other body of water.

“Something that we really pride ourselves on is our water safety program,” Miller said, noting that Academy Swim Club conducts “Safety Week” once every four months.

Students participate in the program wearing long-sleeved shirts, pants, socks and shoes so they can practice swimming with the extra weight of wet clothes in a safe, controlled environment.

“We spend half the lesson time just going over water safety rules and tips, and have them jump in and swim with their clothes on so they are prepared and know what it would feel like if an accident occurred,” Miller explained.  

The last component of the “Safer 3” program is safer response, which encourages parents and adult family members to learn CPR so they can be prepared to respond in the case of a drowning situation.

“Most of the time when drownings take place, it’s one or both parents that are present,” Miller said, adding that if an adult knows how to perform CPR, “you’re more prepared and (can) help out before EMS personnel arrive.”

Miller also recommends children always have a designated “Water Watcher” present during water play.

“Assign a Water Watcher with at least one parent supervising the pool at all times,” he said. “That means no texting, no playing on their phones. Their main role and job is to be watching the water.”

When asked why sharing the Safer 3 program is such an important task within the Santa Clarita community, Miller responded, “Definitely that is to reduce the drowning rates… Follow (the Safer 3) and you should be on your way to being more water safe.”