和孩子一起游泳時,千萬不要只指望救生員

When my daughter was 3, we decided that it was time to teach her how to swim. Every Saturday, my husband took her to a nearby underheated pool to play water.

女兒三歲的時候，我們決定是時候教她游泳了。每週六，我的丈夫都帶女兒去附近加熱不足的泳池玩水。

One Saturday morning, as my husband and daughter were in their swimsuits waiting patiently on a bench for class to start, they watched as a 5-year-old in a SpongeBob rash guard and swim trunks climbed the ladder down into a quiet area of the pool and started to swim around.

一個週六的早晨，當時我的丈夫和女兒正穿着泳裝，耐心地坐在長椅上等着上課。他們看到一個5歲的孩子穿着海綿寶寶泳衣和泳褲沿着泳池的梯子爬到了泳池內一片安靜的區域，然後開始游泳。

Suddenly, there was an odd sort of splashing, and he started to go under. The kid's mom, fully clothed and clutching her purse and phone ran over to the edge of the pool to grab her son but he was just out of reach and sank before their eyes. My husband told my daughter not to move and jumped into the water to fish the kid out.

突然，他開始拍打着水，慢慢下沉。孩子的母親穿得整整齊齊，抓着她的錢包和手機就跑到了泳池邊，然後伸手抓她的兒子，但卻怎麼夠都夠不着，眼睜睜的看着孩子慢慢沉下去。我的丈夫讓女兒不要動，然後就跳到泳池裏，將孩子從水中救出。

Luckily, everything ended well. The kid was fine, the mother eternally grateful, and the lifeguard . . . well, the lifeguard eventually showed up when the kid was coughing and crying.

幸運的是，最後一切都好。孩子沒什麼事，母親也特別感激，而救生員……當孩子咳嗽、哭喊着的時候，救生員終於現身了。

Don't rely on the lifeguard. Yes, making sure a lifeguard is on duty is the first step toward water safety, and there are plenty of fully capable, expertly trained lifeguards out there. But all you need is one moment of distraction, one teenage newbie too absorbed with the girl in the florescent bikini to notice your kid spluttering in the water before it's too late. Always have another set of adult eyes on your kid, preferably yours.

別指望救生員。是的，確保救生員在執勤是水上安全的第一步，而且有能力、經過專業訓練的救生員也很多。但只要一分神，一旦這個青少年救生員被穿着比基尼的漂亮女孩兒吸引，注意不到你的孩子溺水，那一切就太晚了。總該再讓一位成年人看着自己的孩子，最好還是自己看着。

Teach your kids to swim. Despite the fact that she spent most of the semester blowing bubbles to the tune of nursery rhymes, my daughter did manage to overcome her fear of the water. Next item on the to-do list is to get her to do more than just hold her breath to the count of 10. I'll feel a lot better when she can at least doggy paddle without a floaty.

教孩子游泳。儘管這一學期女兒大多數的時間都是吹泡泡、哼着童謠，但她真的克服了她對水的恐懼。待辦清單上的下一個事項就是讓她憋氣不止10秒。至少當她能不穿泳圈就能狗爬式游泳時，我會感覺好很多。