An 11-year-old saves drowning toddler at a pool – and the younger child’s mom didn’t even know what was happening because she was busy on her phone! Tsk. Tsk.
11-Year-Old Boy Saves Drowning Toddler
With so many distractions these days, particularly mobile phones, it might be easy to forget about your kids momentarily – but that can be really dangerous, especially when they’re in a potentially dangerous area, such as a swimming pool.
That’s a lesson learned by one mom who was busy on her phone while her small kids were having fun in the pool.
It turned out that the mom must have felt confident about letting the kids play in the pool on their own because the toddler had floaties on and was with older siblings.
What she didn’t know is that the toddler had slipped out of her floaties and her elder sisters, who are still young kids themselves, didn’t realize what was happening.
It was really a good thing that another kid, 11-year-old Ali, was there. He’s not related to the little girl but when he saw her drowning in the pool, he didn’t hesitate to save her!
“My son, the hero. Ali just saved a toddler from drowning at the hotel pool (in KL). So proud of him. The toddler was playing with her big sisters on a big float. The sisters thought the toddler had her floaty on. The toddler slipped off the floaty into the water,” Dr. Muiz Murad proudly shared, praising his 11-year-old son.
“By the time Ali saw the whole thing, the toddler was already in the water. Ali quickly swam and pulled her out gasping for air and crying. Give it another 10 seconds and things would have turned out for the worst.”
He wants the incident to be an eye-opener to parents.
“Parents, please supervise and monitor your kids at the hotel pool. Most pools do not have a lifeguard on duty. In this case, the toddler’s mother was busy with her phone,” the doctor wrote.
“I’m actually pretty shaken from it all. Ali is calm and collected. The toddler’s mum was oblivious to the whole thing. Now the big sister wants to be friends with Ali. My son, on the other hand, speaks broken Malay.”
Child Safety at the Pool
Never leave your kids unattended, even if there’s a lifeguard at the place you’re visiting. Sometimes, a few seconds is what it takes for a kid to drown.
If you have more than one kid, let another adult watch for the other. Be sure that one adult focuses on one kid.
Don’t let kids run around or jump in the pool.
It’s best to teach the kids how to swim, but even then, don’t let them swim on their own without an adult around.