Parents distracted by digital devices heightens kids’ drowning risk

Swim safety campaigner Laurie Lawrence has zeroed in on the latest parental distraction that’s posing a risk to the lives of our children.

LEADING water safety campaigner Laurie Lawrence is calling for families to appoint designated lifesavers to counter the danger of drownings, with parents distracted by mobile devices at beaches and pools.

The bold call comes amid a spate of drownings, including the latest yesterday on the Sunshine Coast, near-drownings and a 60 per cent leap in the number of surf lifesaving rescues this holiday period.

Latest drowning death

Confronting ad campaign

Near-drowning at South Bank

The former Olympic swim coach and founder of the national “Kids Alive Do the Five” water safety program said the distraction of mobile phones and social media had added a whole new element, putting children’s lives at risk.

“These designated lifeguards need to put away their phones, stay off the alcohol and watch the kids like hawks because it takes only seconds for a tragedy to occur,” Mr Lawrence said.

“They can wear a silly lifeguard hat or a lanyard or whatever but they have to give their undivided attention while there are children in the water.

Laurie Lawrence

“Drowning is a silent killer. Kids run around, fall over and hurt their knee and start crying, but when they fall in the pool, you don’t hear them.

“With the festive party season in full swing, now is the time to be really careful with kids around water — be it a backyard pool, the ocean, dams, creeks or rivers.”

Mr Lawrence said technology had enhanced life in many ways.

“But there are some places that should be technology-free zones — poolside, at the beach, anywhere around water and kids,” he said.

Surf lifesavers have already made tmore than 400 beach rescues in the past fortnight — 62 per cent more than he same period last year.

The number of resustitatiosn is up from seven to 11.

Many parents are being distracted by smartphones while at the beach.

Surf Life Saving Queensland Gold Coast co-ordinator Nathan Fife said too many parents had their heads buried in phones and tablets at the beach while their children swam.

“They think that because it’s a patrolled beach, their kids are safe,” Mr Fife said.

“But lifeguards and lifesavers are sometimes looking after as many as 200 people between the flags. We need parents to work with us to keep the beaches safe.

“It’s so easy to get distracted by a phone call or social media but it only takes a few seconds of not paying attention and your kid could be gone.”

Mr Fife said as well as the risk of drowning, there was also a danger of young children wandering off if parents were not watching.

“Our lifesavers have found young kids halfway up the beach because the parents haven’t noticed them wander off,” he said.

As revealed last week by The Courier-Mail, SLSQ has just launched a confronting surf safety campaign targeting distracted parents.

The campaign, called Don’t Let Your Children Become a Drowning Statistic, features a graphic educational video produced by Griffith University students which warns parents about the potential tragic consequences of not watching their children at the beach.

Mother-of-two Tammy Zunker backed the campaign.

“It’s a great initiative,” she said.

“I think it just opens parents’ eyes and reminds them that you can’t be too careful.

A busy Currumbin Alley on Friday

“We know that phones and other devices are a huge distraction because it’s not just taking your eyes of your kids but it takes your mind off watching them and where they are.”

Ms Zunker was one of numerous parents on their mobile phones at Currumbin Alley when The Sunday Mail visited the popular Gold Coast beach on Friday.

But she was doing the right thing, sing her phone to take photos and videos of her children Maya, 9, and Shelby, 7, as they took part in a supervised surf lesson.

“It’s dangerous for parents to be distracted when the kids are in the pool at home, but it’s even worse at the beach because (swimming) conditions can change so quickly,” she said.

“If you’re not watching your children, it only takes a second for them to go under and if you’re looking at your phone, you’re normally distracted for a lot longer than you normally are.

“You can’t rely on just the lifesavers to be watching your kids when you put your them in the water. You need to be vigilant and keep a close eye on them.”

More than 30 drownings have been recorded nationwide over the past month, five since Christmas Eve. A man in his 60s died at Dicky Beach, Caloundra, yesterday afternoon.

A seven-year-old Japanese boy drowned in the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon last weekend, just hours after flying into Queensland with his parents.

On Thursday, a woman and child pulled from a residential pool at Brendale on December 20 died in hospital. The 31-year-old woman and 11-year-old boy were Chinese nationals.

Queensland has also had a spate of near-drownings, with children and adults plucked from the water at locations including Hervey Bay, Townsville, Logan and Brisbane’s South Bank.