Dear Editor,
I am writing about the 3-year-old girl who nearly drowned, and
was saved by her mother’s quick acting.
Dear Editor,
I am writing about the 3-year-old girl who nearly drowned, and was saved by her mother’s quick acting. I am happy to hear her daughter will be okay. What a terrible feeling that must have been! I also have 3-year-old and we have a pool in our backyard, with a small gate to prevent entry to the area.
I agree to an extent with the police officer’s statement that there was neglect on behalf of the parents. When my daughter asks me if she can get in the pool, I consider whether I can sit at the pool or get in for the next hour at least. The plan is that the next hour, I will be AT THE POOL watching my daughter or just in the pool with her. If I get a phone call, the cordless phone is already outside near the pool. With a child, you cannot let them leave your sight for a second – especially if they don’t have floaties on.
Understandably, she trusted in the other adult present to keep an eye on her momentarily. We sometimes trust that other people will be as attentive as we are of our children, but as mothers nobody will be as attentive as we are – NOBODY. I think it’s just a mother’s instinct, and fathers don’t get me wrong, but when you carry a child in you for 40 weeks and then you give birth, you’ll be darned if something is going to happen to that child.
My daughter uses her floaties, and she’s taken some swim lessons, but that doesn’t mean she’s not going to encounter some problems. A perfect example came recently when she was swimming with her grandparents and decided she was going to make them chase her if they wanted to get her out. With one floatie off and the other on, she got cornered and her solution was JUMP IN!
Well, as you can imagine, only one floatie doesn’t work very well. Of course she was quickly taken out of the pool, with nothing more than a scare and a good scolding once it was clear she was okay.
The man who was watching the little girl and the baby, I think that the neglect was on his part. What’s she doing around the pool without floaties on? He should have made sure she was wearing them by putting them on himself, and making sure she’s in sight, BEFORE he started to change the baby’s diaper. Thank God the mother acted quickly, otherwise it might not have been such a good outcome.
Erika Ruiz, Gilroy
