MISSOURI CITY, Texas – Drowning deaths are on the rise in the Houston area, and experts say families need to take water safety seriously this summer.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 5 to 14 — a sobering statistic that local swim schools are working hard to change.
Aqua Tots, a swim school in Missouri City, is on a mission to help families stay safe while having fun in the water.
ABCs of swimming safety
Sarita Guzman, general manager at Aqua Tots, said the school promotes what it calls the “ABCs of swimming” — a simple framework designed to keep children safe near any body of water.
“Here at Aqua Tots, we love to promote safe and confident swimmers. That’s our first mission overall,” Guzman said.
The first letter, A, stands for adult supervision. Guzman said parents and caregivers should always stay within arm’s reach of young children near water.
“You always want to try to be within arm’s length of your child, anytime we’re near any bodies of water, just in case there is a fall in, a trip, anything — we can reach in and scoop them up,” Guzman said.
B stands for boundaries. Guzman encourages families to use pool gates, fences and covers whenever possible.
“All of our boundaries sometimes are preventable, some not. We love pool gates, we love pool fences, pool covers, but in those cases that we don’t have those boundaries, we teach all of our swimmers how to safely get up out of them and find their air,” Guzman said.
The final letter, C, stands for swim classes — which Aqua Tots says can be life-saving.
Why swim lessons matter
Sisters Grace and Hannah John, ages 10 and 9, have been taking swim classes at Aqua Tots for three years. When asked why following their parents’ water safety rules is important, they kept it simple.
“So that you don’t drown or, like, stay safe in the water,” the sisters said.
Ross Steward, aquatic manager at Aqua Tots, said drowning can happen without warning — even when adults are present.
“If there’s multiple adults present, they should rotate about every 30 minutes, keeping a watchful eye for the kids. You don’t have to stay at the water, but just be sure, you know, come to the water, get a nice, good scan of what’s going on. Drowning can happen silently,” Steward said.
Guzman said the school recently received a sobering phone call that underscores just how quickly things can go wrong.
“We had a parent this morning call in tears saying that her child — she almost lost him. He went down under water. He wasn’t coming back up. Nobody was watching,” she said.
The numbers behind water safety
According to Aqua Tots, the ABCs framework is backed by real results. Boundaries reduce drowning risk by 69%, adult supervision is 99% effective and taking swim classes reduces drowning risk by 98%.
As drowning deaths continue to climb in the Houston area, Aqua Tots encourages all families to make water safety a priority — before heading to the pool.