Email
June 18, 2017
After over seven years living here in Spain, I am totally bewildered why so many young kids are losing their lives through drowning in pools every year.
When my generation started to come to Spain in the 70s and 80s we never, or hardly, heard of children drowning in pools. No pool needed to have barriers or railings around. Something has fundamentally changed.
One thing that has not changed is: Children will always be children! They will always need to be protected. Is this not what being a parent is all about?
Already the number of deaths is going up and we are only at the beginning of the summer holiday period.
So why on earth has parenting changed? Of course nobody wants to lose their child! But why do they think the child is always safe? When they leave them playing near the pool?
I heard of the death only a few weeks ago where one of the parents said, ‘We only left her (him) a split second!’ Well, how long is their ‘split second? If it had been a split second the child would have been dragged immediately out of the water.
No, I’m sorry, the split second excuse is a guilt saver and somehow some parents are never going to learn from other failures unless they change their attitude towards their responsibility as parents and refuse self-indulgence whenever necessary near any water with kids. Barriers and railings do not replace responsibility.
Roy Eaton Hall
