PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — If 11-month-old Felix Pisani wandered into a backyard pool or any other body of water, he might be able to stay afloat long enough until help could arrive.
I caught up with him and his mother Zoe at the Live Like Jake Swim School in Palm Beach Gardens, where Felix takes regular self-rescue swim lessons.
WATCH: Summer months highest for drowning deaths
The toddler can float on his back for several minutes, which Zoe finds important.
“We live in Florida, where there’s a lot of water around everywhere you go,” said Zoe Pisani. “People have pools, there’s splash zones everywhere you like to hang out.”
“Swimming should absolutely come first,” adds Keri Morrison, who is the executive director of the Live Like Jake nonprofit, named after her son, who drowned in 2023 at the age of two.
She stresses kids need self-rescue, or drown-proofing swim lessons, the kind that teach youngsters of all ages to stay afloat long enough until help can arrive at a pool, lake, or canal.
Morrison says parents, especially those with pools, should put swimming ahead of golf, tennis, soccer, or any other sport their kids want to learn, especially if they have a backyard pool or spend time with friends or relatives with pools.
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Morrison urges parents to pay close attention to their kids, and to install fencing and alarms around their pools.
And she has one other tip for parents of toddlers.
“Dress them in bright clothing and swimwear, and it’s not just in case they were to fall into the water,” said Morrison. “It’s anywhere near the water. It’s very easy to spot your child.”
I found some eye-opening numbers from the National Drowning Prevention Alliance.
Nationally, the number of kids who drowned in 2024 could fill 11 school buses.
Forty of these child drownings occurred in Florida, which tied Texas for the most.
And according to the Centers for Disease Control, drowning remains the leading cause of death for children between the ages of one to four.
I also found a CDC statement showing almost half the child drowning deaths occur in the months of June, July and August.
But Morrison notes the potential for tragedy is year-round in Florida. Her son Jake died on a Thanksgiving weekend.
