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31-Day Water Safety Month Action Plan

May is National Water Safety Month. One action per day — 31 concrete steps to protect your family this summer.

WaterWiseKids.com — Free water safety education for families

Check the box each day you complete an action. Post on your fridge or save to your phone as a PDF.

Week 1 (May 1–7): Know Your Risks

  • May 1 — Take stock. List every body of water your family will encounter this summer: backyard pool, community pool, lake trips, beach vacation, water parks. Each location gets its own safety plan.
  • May 2 — Learn the CDC drowning data. Drowning is the #1 cause of accidental death in children ages 1–4. Read one fact-based article so you understand the real risk — not to create fear, but to take action from knowledge. Try: Drowning Prevention: Facts Every Parent Should Know at waterwisekids.com.
  • May 3 — Know the signs of drowning. Drowning is silent — no splashing, no yelling. Watch for: head low in water, glassy or closed eyes, body vertical, ineffective arm movements. Share this information with every adult in your household today.
  • May 4 — Assess your child's swim ability honestly. Can they float unassisted? Swim 25 yards without stopping? Tread water for 2 minutes? Honest self-assessment is the first step toward closing skill gaps. See our swim level assessment guide.
  • May 5 — Identify your highest-risk family member. In most families, it's the youngest child or the weakest swimmer. Every safety system you build this month should center on that person first.
  • May 6 — Read your local drowning prevention stats. Search "[your county/city] drowning prevention" and read what your local health department publishes. Local patterns inform local actions.
  • May 7 — Share what you've learned. Text or call one other parent in your circle with one water safety fact. Awareness spreads protection further than any single household action.

Week 2 (May 8–14): Secure Your Environment

  • May 8 — Inspect your pool fence. Walk the perimeter. Check every latch, hinge, and gap. Four-sided isolation fencing reduces childhood drowning risk by up to 50% — but only if it's in working order.
  • May 9 — Test your pool alarm. When was the last time you pressed the test button on your water-entry alarm, door alarm, or gate alarm? Do it today. Replace batteries if needed. If you don't have a pool alarm, research options — they start under $50.
  • May 10 — Check drain covers. Anti-entrapment drain covers are legally required under the Virginia Graeme Baker Act (2008). If your pool predates this law and hasn't been updated, schedule a pool contractor inspection this week.
  • May 11 — Audit your rescue equipment. Confirm you have a reaching pole (12+ feet), a ring buoy with throw rope, and a first aid kit within 30 seconds of the water — not locked away. Inspect for wear or damage.
  • May 12 — Remove poolside attractions. Float toys, inflatables, pool noodles — anything left floating in the pool when swimming is done becomes a lure that draws young children to the water's edge. Drain and remove daily.
  • May 13 — Lock pool chemicals safely. All chemicals should be in original containers, in a locked cabinet, separated from each other. Mixing common pool chemicals can produce toxic chlorine gas. See our pool chemical safety guide.
  • May 14 — Check the pool deck. Walk the deck barefoot. Look for cracked concrete, loose tiles, wet slippery areas, and objects that could cause a fall. Falls on pool decks often mean falls into the water.

Week 3 (May 15–21): Build Supervision Skills

  • May 15 — Set up the Water Watcher system. Designate one adult per swim session as Water Watcher: no phone, no book, eyes on water only. Create a physical handoff item — a lanyard, a hat, a badge — and practice the rotation. See our Water Watcher guide.
  • May 16 — Practice "touch supervision." For children under 5 and non-swimmers of any age, supervision means within arm's reach at all times — not watching from a chair. Practice what this looks like in your pool layout today.
  • May 17 — Brief every caregiver. Babysitters, grandparents, neighbors who watch your kids near water — all of them need to know your supervision rules. Print this checklist and walk through it with them.
  • May 18 — Audit pool party safety gaps. Group gatherings are when supervision breaks down most predictably — multiple adults each assume someone else is watching. Review our pool party host checklist before your first gathering of the season.
  • May 19 — Set a "no phone at poolside" rule. Actively enforced, not just stated. Leave phones on a towel away from the water. One distraction during a swim session is all it takes.
  • May 20 — Teach your child the buddy system. No swimming alone — ever. Practice the verbal "buddy check" together. Children ages 5 and up can learn and follow this rule reliably.
  • May 21 — Know how to say no. Practice refusing requests to supervise children in water if you're not prepared to give full attention. "I can't be Water Watcher right now" is a water safety decision, not a social one.

Week 4 (May 22–31): Gear, Lessons & Emergency Prep

  • May 22 — Check life jacket fit. Children grow. Pull out every life jacket in the house and test fit by weight — the jacket should not ride up over the chin when you lift by the shoulders. Replace any that no longer fit. USCG life jacket guide →
  • May 23 — Confirm swim lesson enrollment. If your child isn't enrolled in formal swim lessons, today is the day to research and register. The AAP estimates lessons reduce drowning risk in children ages 1–4 by up to 88%. Find quality programs at waterwisekids.com/swim-lessons.
  • May 24 — Choose bright swimwear. Research shows that high-visibility colors (neon orange, yellow, bright pink) are dramatically easier to spot at the bottom of a pool or in open water. Dark colors and prints disappear underwater. Read the color visibility science →
  • May 25 — Post emergency numbers at the pool. Laminate a card with: 911, your home address, local poison control (1-800-222-1222), and the nearest emergency room. Mount it poolside where every supervising adult can see it.
  • May 26 — Create your family water emergency plan. Walk through: who calls 911, who stays with the child, who opens the gate for emergency vehicles, where the nearest AED is. A rehearsed plan is a faster plan. Family safety plan guide →
  • May 27 — Check your CPR certification. Is it current? CPR certification expires every 2 years. If yours is expired or you've never taken a course, register today for a class at your local YMCA, fire station, or Red Cross chapter. Child CPR and infant CPR are separate skills — learn both.
  • May 28 — Review open water rules. Lakes, rivers, and oceans require different safety strategies than pools. Currents, cold water shock, submerged hazards, and variable conditions all change the equation. Open water safety guide →
  • May 29 — Talk to your child about what to do if THEY see someone struggling. Children should know: yell for an adult, throw something that floats (a ball, a noodle, a life ring), never jump in to save someone unless trained. The "Reach, Throw, Don't Go" rule saves two lives instead of one.
  • May 30 — Teach your child to float. Floating face-up is the most important survival skill a young swimmer can have. Practice back float in a supervised setting this week — even 30 seconds of unassisted float is meaningful progress. How to teach a child to float →
  • May 31 — Celebrate and commit. You've completed 31 days of water safety action. Take a moment to acknowledge what you've done — and make a commitment to carry these habits through the summer. The work isn't over on June 1. It just gets easier from here.

Quick Reference: 5 Layers of Water Safety Protection

  • Barriers — Four-sided isolation fence, self-latching gate, door alarms
  • Supervision — Designated Water Watcher, no-phone rule, touch supervision for non-swimmers
  • Swim lessons — Formal instruction with a trained instructor. Not a substitute for supervision
  • Life jackets — USCG-approved, correct fit by weight. Not water wings or floaties
  • CPR readiness — At least one certified adult, current certification, phone at poolside

Created by WaterWiseKids.com — Free water safety education for families

Sources: CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Red Cross, U.S. Coast Guard, National Drowning Prevention Alliance

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