Reading Skills for Today's Adults

A two-year-old boy was at a family barbeque. Family members started a search when they noticed him missing. The child was found face down and unresponsive in a large garden planter in six inches of water. A chair left next to the planter provided access for the child. The cause of death was drowning.

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A seven-month-old girl was placed in a bathtub seat in a bathtub in her home. Her father sat with her for about fifteen minutes. He then left to check on a running faucet in the kitchen. When he returned to the bathroom with his wife, they found the young child floating face down in the bathtub. The bathtub seat was partially on top of her. They had bought the bathtub seat about a week before and had removed a support brace because it did not fit the design of their bathtub. The cause of death was drowning.

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A one-year-old boy was found in the watery solution of a five-gallon bucket used for mopping. It occurred in the afternoon and several people were nearby. The cause of the death was drowning.

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A 19-month-old boy was left on the back porch of his grandparent’s home while his mother went to the bathroom. A screened-in pool was near the porch. The mother heard a splash but thought it was the family dog jumping into the pool. 

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When the mother returned, she found the dog in the pool along with her young son who was floating face down. The child had entered the pool by climbing through a small tear in the screen surrounding the pool. The cause of death was drowning.

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These drowning fatalities are real. The cases are from medical examiners throughout the country. According to a 2016 report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, “drowning kills more children ages 1-4 than anything else except birth defects.” Water and young children can be a deadly mix.