'The Voice' Crowns Its Winner
Mitch Kellaway: Father's Day as a Transgender Man
Four-year-old drowns at Great America
Filed under: Preschoolers, Places To Go, Health & Safety: Babies
You gotta watch your kids. At the playground, if you're not watching, they're liable to get clobbered by a kid on a swing. In a 150-foot-long wave pool, they may very well drown. That's exactly what happened yesterday at the Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, California, an hour South of San Francisco.According to the park's general manager, Bill Lentz, it is unclear where the boy's mother and sister, who had brought him to the park, were at the time. There were six lifeguards on duty as well. For a 150-foot long pool, however, that would mean a lifeguard stationed twenty to twenty-five feet apart, and probably alternating which side they're on as well. That's probably more than adequate to handle teens and adults who know how to swim and can handle the big waves introduced into the pool on a regular basis. It's certainly nowhere near adequate for spotting a four-year-old boy amongst the crowds of swimmers.
There are a lot of questions that spring to mind. Where were the mother and sister? Even if they were right with him and were unable, for some reason, to save him or alert others to his predicament, is a wave pool a suitable place for a four-year-old to be playing? There are at least two other areas more suitable for a preschooler than the wave pool, including "Kookaburra Cay", where "Little blokes and sheilas (boys and girls) will splish and splash in this 'spray-ground' of interactive fountains and water activities."
Whatever the circumstances turn out to have been, this is indeed a terrible tragedy and a great loss for the family. One should never turn ones back on the ocean and I guess that goes for simulated ones as well.
Your<span>Voice</span>
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
TheTalkies:RelatedVideos
-
Kid Icarus: Uprising "Sacred Treasures" Gameplay Trailer
The human race is taking a beating and the only person to save our kind is Kid Icarus. Watch as Kid Icarus collects the scared treasures in this gameplay trailer for Kid Icarus: Uprising.
-
Pool Safety for Kids
Summertime is the perfect season to get out there and have fun, but you'll want to be sure to keep your kids safe. Watch for the proper precautions to take when your children are playing in or around a swimming pool.
-
House of the Week: The Life Aquatic
A glass-bottom pool to keep an eye on the kids while watching the football game. A geometric, clean lined Bauhaus-style home that looks like sugar cubes. WSJ's Stefanos Chen joins Lunch Break to unveil the WSJ House of the Week.
-
Melissa McCarthy Won't Let Kids Watch Her Movies
Melissa McCarty is taking Hollywood by storm, but you cant forget she is a mom too. We caught up with Melissa at the premiere of her new movie Identity Thief and asked the mom of two if her kids even know she is a famous actress.
SitesWeLove
- Site Map
- |
- Staff
- |
- Terms of Service
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Trademarks
- |
- Advertise With Us
- |
- About Our Ads
- |
- AOL Downloads
- |
- Contact Us
- |
© Copyright 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aol Family
ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
7-13-2007 @ 9:42AM
Ginny said...That is such a shame. It's hard for me to even stand up when we go to the wave pool at our local water park. When we take our two young children, my husband and I will each take charge of one child. We also make sure they are wearing a life vest. (Our waterpark offers complimentary lifevests in many different sizes). I can't believe that a parent would allow her 4 yo son to go in the wave pool alone. I wonder if he just got away from her and went in alone while she was looking for him. How sad.
Reply
7-13-2007 @ 10:15AM
Lacy said...This is heartbreaking. My biggest fear. Of course, I would only allow my 4 year old to "swim" in a giant pool like this while wearing a life vest in addition to having either my husband or I *right* next to him at all times.
Reply
7-18-2007 @ 11:12PM
sandra said...My family and I were at the pool the time of the drowning, I feel for the family especially mother who will be blamed for the rest of her life, accidents happen they are unpreventable thats why they are accidents, I must say that the life guards at great america are extremley unprepared for a situation like this. I remember mother screaming for help several times for someone to preform CPR but the child was slowly walked out and it took too long before CPR was preformed I do not blame anyone for this type of tragady because it could of happen to anyone of us mothers.It is sad that her parenting skills are being challanged, no parent is perfect and she is the only one that will live with this pain. Thier is no benefits to this story not even money could wipe her pain away. I do feel like the public is certainly looking for someone to blame but it was and ACCIDENT!!! I just think how happy little carlos must of been to be at Great America.
Reply