🔍 Step 1: Scan the Home on Arrival
Find the pool or hot tub. Check that gates latch and covers are locked or removed. Ask the host to secure them.
Look for ponds, fountains and creeks. Note any water near the yard and keep children away from it.
Check bathrooms. Look for tubs or sinks with water in them. Drain them and close the doors.
Look for small containers of water. Buckets, coolers with melted ice, pet bowls and kiddie pools can all be a hazard.
Check doors to the outside. Know which doors lead to water and ask the host to latch or lock them.
👁️ Step 2: Water Watcher Shifts
Name one water watcher at a time. That adult watches the children and does nothing else: no phone, no drink, no side talk.
Stay within reach of young children. Be close enough to touch a toddler or non-swimmer in seconds.
Swap every 15 minutes. Hand off out loud: “You have the kids.” Do not leave until the next adult says yes.
Do not use an older sibling as the watcher. Children are not a safe substitute for an adult near water.
Count heads at every move. Count before and after meals, games and moving from room to room.
Check the water first. If a child is missing, look in the pool, hot tub, tub, pond and any container of water before anywhere else, then search the house and yard. Call 911 right away if you cannot find the child quickly.
🏠 Step 3: If You Are Hosting
Secure the pool and hot tub. Use a locked cover or a four-sided fence with a self-latching gate.
Drain tubs and empty buckets. Put away kiddie pools and wading pools.
Tell every guest where the water is. Say who is watching the children and when the shifts change.
Keep life jackets and a phone near the water. Know where the life jackets are and keep a phone within reach.
Check ice on ponds and fountains. Keep children off ice. You cannot judge its thickness by looking.
🛁 Step 4: Bath Time and Sleepovers
Stay within arm’s reach for the entire bath. A young child can drown in a few inches of water in seconds.
Drain the tub when bath time is over. Do not leave water in the tub, even for a minute.
Close bathroom doors. Add a latch or a lock high up for early-rising toddlers.
Plan the night. Decide who will wake first and who checks on young children.
📞 Step 5: Our Gathering Plan
Water at this home (pool, tub, pond, other)
Who is host / who secured it
Water watcher, 1st shift (time)
Water watcher, 2nd shift (time)
Water watcher, 3rd shift (time)
Address and 911 info for this home
In an emergency, call 911. If a child is in the water, call for help right away, reach or throw something to them and do not go in after them. Learn infant and child CPR.
🛟 Step 6: Layers of Protection
Close, undistracted supervision. A water watcher is the first layer, and the one that matters most.
Barriers and alarms. Four-sided fences, self-latching gates and door alarms where they help.
Life jackets near open water. Properly fitted and U.S. Coast Guard-approved.
Swim lessons and water comfort. Skills help, but no child is drown-proof. Lessons do not replace a watcher.