As community pools start to open and kids start pining for the water, it’s important for parents to be mindful of water safety.

Safe Kids Mid-South, headquartered at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, cautions parents to develop a water safety checklist for their children. Parents are encouraged to:

• Supervise children near water and designate a “water watcher” whose only job is to watch children near water.
• Fence in the pool or spa completely. Install a four-sided fence, with a self-closing and self-latching gate.
• Enroll children older than 3 in swimming lessons taught by qualified instructors.
• Teach children safe water habits. Tell children never to run, push or jump on others around water.
• Be prepared in case of an emergency. Keep a telephone and emergency phone numbers  near the pool or spa. Keep rescue equipment nearby, too. Learn infant and child CPR.
• Keep a first aid kid nearby.
• Mark the deep and shallow ends of the pool.
• When residential pools aren’t being used, place a tamper-proof cover over the pool or spa, removed steps to above-ground pools and empty inflatable pools.
• Children should always wear U.S. Coast Guard approved safety devices. Inflatable inner tubes and "water wings” are not safety devices.
• Keep toilet lids down and doors to bathrooms and laundry rooms closed.
• Children in baby bath seats and rings must be within arm's reach every second.
• Make sure children swim within designated swimming areas of rivers, lakes and oceans.

Be mindful that drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental injury-death among children ages 1 to 14 and the leading cause of accidental injury-death among children ages 1 to 4.

The majority of drowning and near-drowning occurs in residential swimming pools and in open water sites. However, children can drown in as little as an inch of water and are therefore at risk of drowning in wading pools, bathtubs, buckets, diaper pails, toilets, spas and hot tubs. Childhood drowning and near-drowning can happen in a matter of seconds and typically occur when a child is left unattended or during a brief lapse in supervision.