May is water rubber month.

This is such an of import issue for families because the 2nd cause of death of children nether the age of 14 is drowning.

Great Wolf Lodge invited Burb Mom to come out and get some tips nearly how to continue your summertime water fun. ..fun.

I volunteered for the task considering my iii boys Dearest Great Wolf Lodge.   The Grapevine location is merely a 10 infinitesimal drive from our dwelling and nosotros accept taken 4 "staycations" since they opened. Information technology is GREAT to get abroad…withal be close plenty in case you forgot something!

I met with Kevin Eldridge who is the Director of Aquatics for the Grapevine GWL.   He told me about the safety program at Great Wolf Lodge and the rigorous preparation that each lifeguard goes through.   They employ over 100 lifeguards at the Grapevine water park.   Each lifeguard is trained through Ellis & Associates which is a visitor that specializes in aquatic take chances management.   They go through a 22 hour class, CPR, offset aid, oxygen training, rescue techniques and scanning strategies.

Even though the water at Great Wolf Lodge is never deeper than v feet, there is a lot of h2o Volume.   Each lifeguard station throughout the waterpark has a scanning pattern – a pre-adamant series of places for the guard to look that covers the entire area in their zone.   All the flotation tubes are clear so they tin exist scanned through and each area has a limit of how many of these tubes can exist present for rubber reasons.

The thing that surprised me the most was the follow-up preparation each lifeguard receives.   They have required inservices on EVERY shift.   The start 20 minutes of every shift is defended to something safety-related.   Each month every unmarried lifeguard is tested randomly by a mannequin drop.

What is a mannequin drib?

GWL has several sizes of dummies that they sneak into different zones without the lifeguard expecting it.

Would you like to run into a mannequin drop?

OF Class!

One of the other lifeguards inverse into a apparently swimming suit and grabbed the mannequin that looks like a toddler (seen above in kickoff photo).   Nosotros headed over to a identify where we could sentry and not disturb the drill.

The lifeguard is walking along the yellow lines back and forth and scanning the h2o.

I didn't even see the plain-suited   guard slip into the water with the mannequin and I was expecting information technology…he was THAT sneaky.

A split second later…

The lifeguard notices the mannequin in the water and rushes to rescue.

The patently-suited baby-sit that dropped the mannequin and then climbs out of the water and takes over the zone while the rescue happens.

The lifeguard continues the rescue and the plain-suited guard that dropped the mannequin continues to take over guarding the zone.

The patently-suited guard is now on the office of the zone that is out of the picture while the lifeguard continues the rescue of the mannequin.

It was so fast.

I was expecting it and it was fast.

Because this drill is very realistic and something that happens DAILY at Cracking Wolf Lodge, they never exercise it without having another person nearby to talk with guests about the drill.

There was a table of moms on the other side of the lazy river that witnessed the whole event.   Once the drill was over Kevin, the patently-suited baby-sit and some other lifeguard mingled around and talked with the guests.   They answered questions and reassured people that what they witnessed was a drill and no ane was hurt.   I spoke with the moms afterwards and similar me, they were very impressed with the speed of the entire incident.

They do this with every guard every month because they believe the practice of rescue is essential to keep the lifeguards on their toes.

Simply one thing that was stressed by all the safety personnel at Great Wolf Lodge was…

At that place IS NO Exchange FOR PARENTAL SUPERVISION.

That is the bottom line.

Places like GWL are neat places for family unit play.   The closer you are interacting with your kids in the water, the meliorate!   You lot know your kids and their power to swim better than anyone.

Interact.

Play.

Stay close and stay safe.

This postal service was sponsored by Great Wolf Lodge to spread the word about H2o Safety Calendar month and encourage families to make traditions this summer…safely.

Kids Activities Blog is Holly's blogging home.

She is the co-writer of 101 Kids Activities that are the Bestest, Funnest Ever! and The 101 Coolest Simple Science Experiments.

She is the mom of three boys ages xiii, 15 & 17 who partially homeschools. She believes that yous shouldn't accept to buy stuff to have fun when there is a kitchen junk drawer full of possibilities.