Whether you own a pool or you just spend a lot of time near them, for parents, the fear of a child drowning is very real. It can happen in an instant, and one mom’s story on Reddit proves that. She shared a post where she describes her 3-year-old’s drowning accident.
She reveals that her son survived, but the details about how quickly it happened and how no one knew what was happening before it was almost too late are a cautionary tale for other parents.
According to the Children’s Safety Network, one in four drowning deaths every year is a child. Three out of four children who drown every year are boys.
Those facts alone are enough to understand how the Reddit user’s son drowned before he was pulled out of the water. But for many, it can happen so quickly, even if you take all of the necessary precautions.
The mom says her son ‘didn’t make a sound’ while drowning.
According to the mom on Reddit, her 3-year-old son made his way to the pool without her, her husband, or any of the other adults in the area seeing him. He somehow got in the pool and underwater.
They only knew he was in there because he accidentally bumped into an adult who was already in the water. That adult pulled him out and the mom immediately grabbed him.
“He didn’t make a sound. There was zero splashing. The only reason anyone knew he had gone into the water is that he had somehow made his way to an adult,” she wrote in her post.
“No one saw him sneak into the pool after his dad took his swim vest off. No one heard him struggle. By the grace of God, he is okay.”
She added in her post that, although her son was OK after they pulled him out of the water, she learned a lesson in being extra diligent in keeping an eye on him. She advised other parents to essentially use her story as a cautionary tale. She wrote that even his three years of swim lessons hadn’t done anything to save him in that situation, though he was OK afterward.
There is also something called secondary drawing, or dry drowning, to look for in kids who briefly drown but come out of the water relatively unscathed. Per Texas Children’s Hospital, secondary drowning symptoms include trouble breathing, fatigue, vomiting, and persistent coughing hours after the incident occurs.
Other parents whose children also drowned shared comments to agree about how silent the entire ordeal can be. In movies and TV shows, there might be shouting, splashing, and arms waving. In real life, however, drawing can look much different, especially for small children.
“It’s nothing short of terrifying to realize how quiet it all goes down,” the mom commented on her Reddit post. “Never letting my guard down again.”
