'Season of worry' about children drowning.

GD&TĐ - In recent years, despite the efforts of authorities, schools, and families in disseminating information, providing knowledge, and raising awareness about preventing drowning in children, the number of drowning incidents among children continues to increase, especially in rural areas. This has become a concern for the entire society.

Whenever I travel to suburban areas or rural regions during hot, humid weather, I often see groups of children swimming in rivers, lakes, ponds, and canals without adult supervision. Whether these children know how to swim or not, I still see danger lurking, because if a dangerous situation or accident occurs, they may not have the skills to handle it or provide assistance.

Reading newspapers and browsing through media and social networks, I've noticed many reasons for drowning accidents among children in recent years. One common cause is the negligence of parents and adults who allow children to play unsupervised in dangerous areas such as rivers, lakes, canals, ponds, and lagoons. During hot weather, children often go swimming in these places to cool off without asking their parents' permission, significantly increasing the risk of death.

Drowning incidents occur partly because children don't know how to swim. Some children may know how to swim but are still unable to save themselves in an accident because they haven't been taught safety skills and how to handle situations while swimming.

Furthermore, in some cases, children see a friend drowning and jump in to save them without having been equipped with rescue skills, leading to an increase in the number of child drownings. In addition, some children drown due to unsafe living environments, while the children lack understanding of the risks and how to prevent accidents.

Recently, there have been numerous tragic drowning incidents involving children, some even resulting in the deaths of multiple children at once, when they went swimming in rivers and lakes without adult supervision. This reality raises an alarm, urging families and society as a whole to take effective measures to prevent and minimize this problem.

In my opinion, to proactively prevent drowning and avoid tragic deaths among children, local authorities need to strengthen inspections, promptly detect and warn about places with potential drowning risks such as rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, etc., including deep water areas.

We hope that the relevant authorities will coordinate with local governments to continue promoting awareness campaigns so that parents and caregivers can improve their understanding of preventing drowning among children.

In addition to disseminating information through leaflets, mass media should utilize a network of local communicators, community leaders, and village officials.

These are local residents, so regularly visiting people's homes to raise awareness and supervise children will be more effective. Children need to be educated on self-protection, taught swimming skills and basic first aid in case of adult assistance. Maintaining and offering more short-term free swimming classes during the summer will teach children swimming skills.

Besides the involvement of authorities, parents and adults need to pay close attention to preventing drowning accidents among their children. In my opinion, in addition to teaching children to swim, parents need to guide them on where and how to play safely. They should also explain and teach self-defense skills so that children understand which places are dangerous and should stay away from them.

Adults need to constantly supervise children, especially young children, and prevent them from playing near ponds, lakes, canals, ditches, or deep puddles. If children swim in these areas or in swimming pools, even if they know how to swim, constant adult supervision is essential.

Summer is only truly fun and meaningful when children are safe and have enjoyable, enriching experiences. Therefore, ensuring children's safety, happiness, and well-being requires the joint efforts of the entire community, society, schools, and families.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/mua-lo-tre-duoi-nuoc-post780014.html