A child can drown in a matter of seconds. In the time it takes to:

• Walk a few yards for a towel (10 seconds), a child can become submerged. 
• Check your e-mails (2 minutes), that child can lose consciousness. 
• Have a short phone conversation with a friend (4 to 6 minutes), a child can sustain permanent brain damage. 

About 20 children drown each year in Harris County, but parents and children can help prevent drowning by practicing water safety with the ESP method.

"Drowning is a quick and silent killer, and about 20 children drown each year in Harris County" said Dr. Rohit Shenoi, attending physician in Texas Children's emergency room and assistant professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine. "If parents focus on education, supervision and prevention, it will go a long way to preventing these unfortunate accidents."

Practice ESP (education, supervision, prevention)

• Education
  • Learn to swim.
  • When your children are old enough, be sure they learn to swim.
  • Take annual cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) classes.
  • Learn to remove a person from the water.
  • Know how to dial 911 and understand how to communicate with the operator. Teach this to your children.
     
• Supervision
  • Designate a responsible, alcohol-free adult to supervise activities in and around the water.
  • Provide constant, one-on-one supervision around open water.
  • Choose locations with lifeguards if on the beach. Keep children with you at all times.
     
• Prevention
  • Install a self-latching, self-locking fence at least 4 feet high between the pool and the back door of the house if you have a backyard pool.
  • Be sure children wear life preservers, not air-filled flotation devices.
  • Make sure everyone aboard a boat wears U.S. Coast Guard-approved life preservers. Boating is not recommended for children younger than 5 years.