Soapbox: Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning

I ran across this amazing article by Mario Vittone that includes CRITICAL information for every parent who takes or allows their children [young or old or grown] to water.  Everyone has a mental image of a person drowning but the problem is that the image is usually created from a TV or movie depiction. A mixture a chaos and commotion like that seen in "Jaws" is far from the common reality of drowning.

The full article is on the web and is going around a lot.  It was originally written for submission to a sailing magazine, therefore the intro about a skipper etc.  I understand that it is going to be in a summer issue of Reader's Digest in modified form so look for it there, clip it out, and save it.  I plan to reread it every summer to keep it in the front of my mind.

He quotes Dr. Francesco A. Pia's research on drowning that describes the body's "Instinctive Drowning Response." He has found that 1: our mental image of drowning may be accurate if a person is in "aquatic distress," but that 2: when they are imminently in danger of drowning and the body's self-preservation kicks in automatic reactions that may hide the danger to a casual observer. This presents a huge danger.

The key points are that [unlike our screen image of drowning]
       • Drowning victims CANNOT call out for help.
       • Drowning victims CANNOT wave or intentionally signal their distress.
He goes on to explain exactly why this is true, and what you are likely to see for behaviors instead of the expected cries or signals for help. Read a detailed description of this written for search and rescue personnel in this second article on page 14 of ON SCENE, The Journal of the Coast Guard Search and Rescue.

The first article also lists these other things that can be danger signs of drowning:

• Head low in the water, mouth at water level
• Head tilted back with mouth open
• Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
• Eyes closed
• Hair over forehead or eyes
• Not using legs – Vertical
• Hyperventilating or gasping
• Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
• Trying to roll over on the back
• Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.

Please, please, puh-lease,  read one or both of the full articles!  It could save a life and prevent a tragedy.

Be safe!

Image credit: gjcity.org, casj.org.ar, on.fb.me/idrphoto

Scheduling down time?

     Yesterday I begin the race to see what miracles I can accomplish while I am one child down for a little over a week. Being me, I have a list of things I hope to get done. Being me, it is a list long enough to fill several weeks, and impossible to complete in just over one. Trying to be better, it does include some relaxation "jobs" to be done... eat lunch on the deck, read a magazine article, phone a friend for a movie, take the boys to breakfast. I suspect that people who encourage more relaxation time probably would disapprove of it being an item to be checked off on a list of tasks. I suspect it is supposed to flow naturally, rather than scheduled like an obligation. Me? I think that whatever works, works. I am counting on the premise that even a "scheduled" alone time or relaxation time still provides a respite, a rejuvenation. If nothing else, it is an attempt, a start, a recognition that it IS important. Hey, it was important enough to get on my list, right?!

Comfort Food

Is the comfort that food provides something that is hard-wired into our brains from earliest times, when a full stomach meant survival? Ask anyone what their family's comfort food was and the only time they hesitate is if they're trying to decide which family comfort food was the most used. What did mom fix when it was exam week? the first night home from college? when it had been a really rough week?  

I'm overweight.  I'm working on it and I'm making progress, but I'm overweight. I don't think it's a coincidence that weight issues are exceedingly common among foster parents, and also among foster children.  Whether overweight or underweight, eating too much or eating disorders. It is sooo hard to treat food as fuel, not as the enemy, not as the friend, not as the feared, not as the comfort.  Fuel, just that, nothing more. They say that the nicotine in smoking is addictive.  I don't smoke,  but I think for some of us, food is every bit as addictive, and every bit as hard a habit to control.  

Even now, I feel that baking a batch of cookies or brownies is doing something nice for my kids. I make an amazing peanut butter/chocolate homemade fudge. People's eyes light up when I bring it to the church fair, or to a sick friend, or mail it to a child at college.  My kiddos literally jump for joy when they see me gathering the ingredients for fudge. I know when I make fudge they will be excited and happy.  I admit sitting down to a family board game or going for a walk together doesn't give me that same feeling. I don't think it gives them the same feeling either. Maybe it does.  I hope it does.  It would be nice to break the cycle of using food for comfort.