A Beautiful Book

Mateo, my three-year-old son is very attached to me. It wasn't until this year that he started letting people other than me do things like carry him, dress him, help him eat, hold him in the pool... And by other people I mean his dad and extended family like grandma and auntie whom he sees regularly.
Even now he likes to follow me pretty much everywhere and will even wait outside the shower for me sometimes rather than be without me a few minutes. With his third birthday upon us I worried about him transferring from the mommy-and-me swim class to the independent swimming class like his older (much more independent) sister. So I found this book, The Kissing Hand, by Audry Penn, and bought it as a birthday gift for him.

On the night of his birthday we read the book before bedtime. Camila, my four-year-old, and Mateo, loved, loved, loved the illustrations and I did too -- they're beautifully detailed. My kids loved this story about a little raccoon named Chester who is afraid to to go school and be without his mom. Chester shares his fears with his mom and she soothes them away with a kiss on his hand. Both Camila and Mateo kept asking me to kiss their little hands like Chester's mom kisses his. (Who doesn't love a book that gets their kids to ask for more kisses?)

To my surprise, the story also helped soothe away my fears about letting my little guy venture out a little without me as he becomes an independent swimmer (happy to say he is having a blast swimming on his own with the swim coaches) and a preschooler later this year.

I highly recommend this beautifully illustrated, heart-felt story to mommies of young children who are starting to venture out into the world without them for the first time.

If you read to your children in Spanish like I do, you'll be happy to know Penn's book is available in Spanish under the title Un beso en mi mano. Your children will love it and you will too!

Staying Afloat

In yesterday's blog I shared some statistics about drownings. They are scary facts but drownings are not inevitable. There are many things we can do to prevent such a tragedy...

• The most important thing we can do is be in the pool with our children. If it's a kiddie pool then we can be within arm's reach in case they slip or lose their balance.

• I've seen parents put arm floats or vests on their young kids and let them swim alone while they watch from outside the pool. I just want to say that these are not meant to keep your kids safe. They are toys.

• A lot of these devices actually create a hazardous situation where children are unable to turn face-up or to move their arms to save themselves. Many are easy to remove by pulling on velcro, or slide off those little arms.

• A child who always gets in the pool with any kind of floating device doesn't know that if they don't have that on they can sink and drown. I prefer never to use these, but if you love them, be sure to always bring them into the pool without them and take them off a few minutes before they get out. That way they understand that they should never get in the pool by themselves. 
• If most children who drown are in the company of one or both parents at the time they drown it means there are probably distractions present. Bring a phone to the pool with you to dial 911 in case of an emergency... not to check e-mail, chat with friends or surf the web. 

• Also, designate a person to watch the children in the pool. Many times, when there are a lot of adults present, each thinks someone else is watching the kids. 

• Enrolling children in swimming lessons will teach them not only how to swim, but also how to get out of the pool in case they fall in, how to float face-up, and that they should never ever get in the pool without an adult. 

• Most children drown in residential pools, were last seen in the home, and had been out of sight less than 5 minutes. A four-foot, four-sided fence with a self-latching mechanism can prevent children from wandering into an unsupervised pool. 

• A child can drown in as little as 2 inches of water. Keeping plastic and inflatable pools empty and turned upside down when not in use can prevent an accident. 

• My husband and I took a CPR class before our eldest was born and just renewed our certification this year -- we want to be prepared in case of an emergency. You can find classes through your local chapter of the American Red Cross; http://xrl.us/bk2gy4. 

Taking these precautions gives us peace of mind and allows us to enjoy the laughter and joy children express when they are swimming in the sun! Have fun!