Be your child's personal lifeguard

Always make sure your child is by your side and well supervised when they're around water which may become a danger to their safety. Photo / Thinkstock

Wouldn't it be nice to know that your kids can swim? Even being able to dog paddle would do, because drowning often takes only a few seconds.

Sadly, last weekend was a horror show of drownings, with a two-year-old dying at Waiwera pools and a four-year-old in a stream in the far north. That makes six under fives dead from drowning already this year, equalling the total from 2010.

Of course, with kids this small it's not so much about them being able to swim, and making them water wise, it's about supervision.

Kids love water. It's like a magnet. Crikey, get Mia's paddling pool out, or give her a bucket of water and some containers to play with, and she's happy for an hour or more. The draw of the sea is even stronger. Mia and the other little kids we went on holiday to the beach with this summer were into it. Well, up to their knees, and maybe their waists, at least.

It made me realise supervision around water - and especially at the beach - can't be done from a distance.

As quick as those waves rumble in, they can pull back even faster with a fierce undertow. Mia's little legs were like toothpicks against that force. But do you think she cared? She thought it was a hoot that the sand was disappearing under her feet as the waves sucked back while I hung onto her.

For a kid, water is fun, it's as simple as that. Whereas I know - speaking from experience after nearly drowning at Muriwai beach on Auckland's west coast many years ago - it can be bloody dangerous.

The other thing about kids learning to swim - and making them water wise - is that it can be expensive. We did those baby swimming classes with Mia. Well, we did for about three weeks until it got so repetitive and pointless. I was able to blow bubbles and sing silly songs to her as we bobbed around the pool without some instructor telling me what to do.

We recently looked into swimming lessons again now that she's a bit older - but it's costly. And yes, there is the argument that it's better to fork out now than pay the ultimate price when your little one winds up face down in the pool, the river, or the surf.

But really, what is the point paying around $180 for swimming lessons when she is not likely to get much out of it yet? So we're holding off for a while until she's ready to do more than just float on a flutter board.

And in the meantime, I'll be hauling my bum off the deck chair and playing lifeguard.