Yesterday a little boy died. He wasn’t even three years old, and apparently he died by drowning in the family’s pool, right in front of his mother’s eyes.
I am sick to my stomach about this. I don’t know this family, I don’t know the whole story, but as a mother I can’t even fathom what his mother must be going through right now. Her life will never be the same. Instead of judging her or this tragedy in any way, I am sending only compassionate thoughts her way.
I learned about this death from a tweet I read. After tracking down more info, I landed on the mother’s Twitter account, where she had posted three pictures of her beautiful boy. He looks so much like Landon, which makes this incident hit even closer to home. Should she have tweeted about the death of her son? That is exclusively her business how she deals with her grief.
This mother lost her son yesterday – one moment he was with her, then he was gone. What did I do yesterday? I was complaining about the $500 bill I have to pay to fix my car. Hearing stories like this puts things into perspective really fast. You bet ya’ I watched Landon like a hawk last night during his bath time.
I have written about child safety and childproofing tips on this blog before because I want to remind parents that these accident DO happen — and they happen way too fast. My nephew fell into a pool and almost drowned when he was little – fortunately, he had an angel with him and is now a strapping football player in college. Not too long ago the little grandson of a friend of my sister-in-law drowned in some water on her property.
Our children are such a blessing; do what you can to keep them safe. Please be careful and watch your children closely, especially when they are around water! Don’t text or talk on the phone in the car – that conversation can wait. If it can’t wait, pull over – take the extra five minutes.
I just recently heard about a local mom whose little son was killed instantly while in the car with her. She hit a wall after she took her eyes off the road to check on her son behind her. She did what we all have done many times, she didn’t really do anything reckless, and still a terrible accident happened that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
Like any mother, I have been accused of being a little over-protective in certain situations, I have heard the “leave him be, he is a boy,” but I’d rather be called over-protective than have something happen to the little light of my life. While another mom was beside herself with grief last night, I was beyond grateful to be able to get under the covers next to my sleeping boy and feel his warm little toes on my legs.
(picture by Ana Graza)
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I’m totally with you on the over-protective thing. Rather safe than sorry is my motto. But tragedies can happen so fast–in the blink of an eye. We are so lucky for every precious second we have with our children.
Awful, just awful, isn’t it!? The worst part is instead of discussing water safety everyone is talking about moms on Twitter.WTF? what about the dads on Twitter?
I was stunned when I read about the tragedy of Shellie losing her son. I had read about it right after I played a game with my 10 year old even though I wanted to get so many other things done. After reading her messages and seeing the pictures I knew I had done the right thing. Everything else could wait. :-) God bless Shellie and her family.
Very sad! Thanks for sharing, will be thinking of this family and praying for them. Christmastime will always be a very sad time of year for them. :(
Because I live in FL & the number 1 cause of death for kids under 4 is drowning (there is so much water here everywhere around us!) we used instructors from ISR too. (http://www.infantswim.com)
In addition to teaching our kids to float at 6 months old, it included an education for us about water safety. It had never occurred to me until I read in their small book – when there is more than one adult “watching” the kids in the pool, they should jointly agree who is “watching now.” This way, no one takes their eyes off the water, thinking someone else is watching, while that “someone else” is doing the same thing & no one is watching. This was an eye-opener for me and I’m even more vigilant since having the girls involved in these lessons.
This mom is in my prayers.
This is so sad. I feel for the mother, I can’t imagine the pain and sadness she must be going through right now. After reading the tweets last night, I too kept a close eye on my 22 month old durning her bathtime.
Oh that is so sad. I have had recurring nightmares about my children drowning and it scares me to death! My prayers are with this mother.
Children as young a 6 months old can be taught to swim, to find an instructor in your area, refer to the following website
http://www.infantswim.com/instructors/locator.html?zip=10984&radius=20&x=0&y=0
God bless the family that has suffered any tragedy
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