Editorial: Vital that Kiwi kids can swim

Candle light vigil for Jack Dixon.

My heart goes out to the family of 5-year-old Jack Dixon, swept out to sea at Mt Maunganui on Wednesday.

What I imagine started out as a fun day at the beach ended in a tragedy that nobody could have foreseen.

Sometimes when terrible things like this happen people are quick to point out that if so and so hadn't been doing this or that, none of it would have happened.

In this case that is just not true.

Western Bay of Plenty police inspector Karl Wright-St Clair said it was a "freakish accident" and the children were being supervised by two adults who were not at fault.

Children play on the beach all the time.

Going to the beach is part of the Kiwi culture.

It is however, I think, so important to teach children how to be safe in and near the water.

I know all the instructions in the world probably couldn't have saved little Jack.

Thank goodness his older cousins made it to safety.

Lakes, rivers and the ocean play a huge part in Hawke's Bay summer activities. Our children need to know how to swim.

Take them to lessons, teach them yourselves - just be sure your children have all the skills they need when they are near the water.

Search-and-rescue teams were still searching for Jack yesterday. I hope they find him.

He needs to be with his family.