But regulation is not enough. Parents and child-care givers must become safety partners with the government agency that legislates or regulates any potential danger. Parents actually have the most important role in environmental control, because no government can watch every child. Parents must see that the regulation pool fence is locked and ensure that there are no chairs, tables or toys nearby that a child might use to climb over the pool fence. And this is still not enough.
Parents never can rely on floaties or other inflatable toys to protect a child.
They must keep toys like tricycles out of the pool area and never permit running near the pool. All pool areas should be equipped with rescue equipment like a pole and life ring and a telephone. Parents must understand and be responsible for child supervision near water. A child can drown in less than a minute - less than the time it takes to answer the doorbell. Sadly, children drown even when there are several adults around, because no one notices the child slip under water, and young children don't cry out or make an audible splash.