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> http://spotthedrowningchild.com http://spotthedrowningchild.com Wow, even knowing there would be someone in danger, I didn't spot until, at best, the lifegua

> http://spotthedrowningchild.com http://spotthedrowningchild.com Wow, even knowing there would be someone in danger, I didn't spot until, at best, the lifeguard jumped in and usually a little after that. And they didn't know something bad was about to happen, and had to be scanning the entire pool constantly. I should have had a few seconds of advantage on that at least. I think I would be terrified to have a job like that... 99.99% of the time everything is fine, which would make it hard to maintain constant vigilance when you might go multiple days without an incident. while needing to be prepared for that extremely small window of crisis.

Natsu 5y ago
After you watch enough videos, you learn to look for kids doing unsafe things (e.g. climbing on flotation devices) to spot things ahead of time. Sure, you learn what drowning looks like, but if you watch, the lifeguards often react instantly which means they predicted that person would get themselves in trouble ahead of time and reacted as soon as the person went under. I got a lot better at it after a little bit of practice and most of the improvement was figuring out who was doing dangerous things that you needed to keep an eye on.
- mbeardsworth 5y ago
  I worked as a lifeguard for a few summers in high school and college, mostly as a supervisor in the latter years. You're trained to develop a scanning pattern, and to not overly fixate on potential problem cases. Otherwise your tunnel vision might cause to miss something important that you hadn't noticed beforehand. I found that I got a pretty good intuition for things not looking "right".
- ineedasername 5y ago
  When I had my 3rd child, the hospital made us watch about 2 hours of different videos about dealing with a < 1yr old child. I found this particularly interesting because: 1) It made perfect sense. You have to demonstrate a certain level of competence to get a driver's license, why not a child also? 2) For child #1 & #2 they just let us take them out of the hospital, which really felt surreal. Sort of like "Don't they know we have no idea what we're doing?" Anyway, the point of that is to say that it probably makes sense to include something about swimming into those videos. Or to have the equivalent of annual "professional development" training for parents to educate them on the issues facing them in the next year of their kid's development. Not required, that would be difficult to accomplish. But strongly encouraged & nudged repeatedly. Heck I can't go a year at my job without annual computer security educational programs to refresh staff on safe computing protocols, but parents are left flying blind to piece things together based on their own experiences growing up & whatever they've absorbed from pop media.
  - geoduck14 5y ago
    Oh my gosh. I wish someone would have prepared me for all of the screaming. So. Much. Screaming. Put that in your annual training.
- ineedasername 5y ago
  I just watched more from the video series posted above, and found one that illustrates this perfectly. I watched it multiple times: The lifeguard seemed loosely focused on the person the entire time, even when the person (to my eyes) looked fine, and when the person finally began going under the lifeguard jumped on the situation. What is truly remarkable & indicative of the panic response is the fact that person was about 2ft from the ledge. In a rational state of mind they would know that from a few seconds earlier when they were safely in the tube. But that knowledge went completely out the window when their panic response kicked in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nANNAtq8Bpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nANNAtq8Bpw
  - BoiledCabbage 5y ago
    It goes even beyond a panic response. When drowning, a person cannot consciously control their arms. Nor yell for help. Basic inate responses take over. So even if they know exactlt what to do, they couldn't help themselves. The reading on the page is a great source of info. That said, a number of those videos I don't know if they were full on drowning response, vs being in distress.
smadsen 5y ago
Thank you for this. I am a lifelong swimmer but never a lifeguard. Took me a couple tries to get an idea what to look for and then I could reliably pick up on the cues. However, that's with someone staring at the video closely; I can only imagine trying to keep up a scan through a long hot day in the sun with hundreds of people swimming.
wccrawford 5y ago
I only watched 1, but I saw them immediately and it was confirmed when the lifeguard blew the whistle and made their way to them. I think I have an advantage, though. I remember almost drowning as a kid. I wasn't at the top of the water like this person, though. I was at the bottom of the pool, desperately putting my hand up and hoping someone would see me. Interestingly, that's apparently really hard to do by what the text below the video says. I thought my hand was still under the water, and I was laboriously making my way to where I thought the side of the pool was. Eventually, someone (at the time I thought it was my dad, but it wasn't!) grabbed my arm and pulled me out. I didn't swallow any water and I wasn't harmed, but it really scared me. I begged my parents for swimming lessons, but we lived in a small town, the lessons were too far away, and we couldn't afford them. I ended up teaching myself to swim so that it would never happen to me again. I can save myself now, but my wife freaks out when I swim because I'm still really, really bad at it. I still don't go in the ocean, and very rarely go in a pool, and never near anyone who I think might be an asshole and try to dunk me, even jokingly.
thebruce87m 5y ago
> I think I would be terrified to have a job like that... 99.99% of the time everything is fine, which would make it hard to maintain constant vigilance when you might go multiple days without an incident. while needing to be prepared for that extremely small window of crisis. You just described the current state of “self driving” cars.

Natsu 5y ago

After you watch enough videos, you learn to look for kids doing unsafe things (e.g. climbing on flotation devices) to spot things ahead of time. Sure, you learn what drowning looks like, but if you watch, the lifeguards often react instantly which means they predicted that person would get themselves in trouble ahead of time and reacted as soon as the person went under. I got a lot better at it after a little bit of practice and most of the improvement was figuring out who was doing dangerous things that you needed to keep an eye on.

mbeardsworth 5y ago
I worked as a lifeguard for a few summers in high school and college, mostly as a supervisor in the latter years. You're trained to develop a scanning pattern, and to not overly fixate on potential problem cases. Otherwise your tunnel vision might cause to miss something important that you hadn't noticed beforehand. I found that I got a pretty good intuition for things not looking "right".
ineedasername 5y ago
When I had my 3rd child, the hospital made us watch about 2 hours of different videos about dealing with a < 1yr old child. I found this particularly interesting because: 1) It made perfect sense. You have to demonstrate a certain level of competence to get a driver's license, why not a child also? 2) For child #1 & #2 they just let us take them out of the hospital, which really felt surreal. Sort of like "Don't they know we have no idea what we're doing?" Anyway, the point of that is to say that it probably makes sense to include something about swimming into those videos. Or to have the equivalent of annual "professional development" training for parents to educate them on the issues facing them in the next year of their kid's development. Not required, that would be difficult to accomplish. But strongly encouraged & nudged repeatedly. Heck I can't go a year at my job without annual computer security educational programs to refresh staff on safe computing protocols, but parents are left flying blind to piece things together based on their own experiences growing up & whatever they've absorbed from pop media.
- geoduck14 5y ago
  Oh my gosh. I wish someone would have prepared me for all of the screaming. So. Much. Screaming. Put that in your annual training.
ineedasername 5y ago
I just watched more from the video series posted above, and found one that illustrates this perfectly. I watched it multiple times: The lifeguard seemed loosely focused on the person the entire time, even when the person (to my eyes) looked fine, and when the person finally began going under the lifeguard jumped on the situation. What is truly remarkable & indicative of the panic response is the fact that person was about 2ft from the ledge. In a rational state of mind they would know that from a few seconds earlier when they were safely in the tube. But that knowledge went completely out the window when their panic response kicked in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nANNAtq8Bpw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nANNAtq8Bpw
- BoiledCabbage 5y ago
  It goes even beyond a panic response. When drowning, a person cannot consciously control their arms. Nor yell for help. Basic inate responses take over. So even if they know exactlt what to do, they couldn't help themselves. The reading on the page is a great source of info. That said, a number of those videos I don't know if they were full on drowning response, vs being in distress.

smadsen 5y ago

Thank you for this. I am a lifelong swimmer but never a lifeguard. Took me a couple tries to get an idea what to look for and then I could reliably pick up on the cues. However, that's with someone staring at the video closely; I can only imagine trying to keep up a scan through a long hot day in the sun with hundreds of people swimming.

wccrawford 5y ago

I only watched 1, but I saw them immediately and it was confirmed when the lifeguard blew the whistle and made their way to them. I think I have an advantage, though. I remember almost drowning as a kid. I wasn't at the top of the water like this person, though. I was at the bottom of the pool, desperately putting my hand up and hoping someone would see me. Interestingly, that's apparently really hard to do by what the text below the video says. I thought my hand was still under the water, and I was laboriously making my way to where I thought the side of the pool was. Eventually, someone (at the time I thought it was my dad, but it wasn't!) grabbed my arm and pulled me out. I didn't swallow any water and I wasn't harmed, but it really scared me. I begged my parents for swimming lessons, but we lived in a small town, the lessons were too far away, and we couldn't afford them. I ended up teaching myself to swim so that it would never happen to me again. I can save myself now, but my wife freaks out when I swim because I'm still really, really bad at it. I still don't go in the ocean, and very rarely go in a pool, and never near anyone who I think might be an asshole and try to dunk me, even jokingly.

thebruce87m 5y ago

> I think I would be terrified to have a job like that... 99.99% of the time everything is fine, which would make it hard to maintain constant vigilance when you might go multiple days without an incident. while needing to be prepared for that extremely small window of crisis. You just described the current state of “self driving” cars.