The USA Swimming Foundation raises funds to support programs that save lives and build champions–in the pool and in life.

As the philanthropic arm of USA Swimming, the USA Swimming Foundation works to strengthen the sport from grassroots to gold medals. Whether we’re…

Happy International Water Safety Day!  Did you know that today, May 15, is International Water Safety Day?  The members of the U.S. Congress know, because a group representing drowning prevention efforts in the U.S. is…

Are you a ‘buy every child safety product on the market’ parent or a ‘well, a few bumps won’t kill them’ parent?  Is every table in your house surrounded with foam padding or do you silently curse when you are visiting someone with an indecipherable toilet lock? 

We…

I

’m a mom and I’m pissed off.  Not a bit concerned.  Not even angry.  I’m pissed off as in, ‘I have a flame thrower and I’m not afraid to use it’ pissed off.  Why?  Because child safety is about as big a mom issue as you can get, and yet children keep drowning and no one is talking about…

How can I teach thee?  Let me count the ways....

1. Traditional swimming lessons  - through your Y, park district pool, community pool, local swim instructor or any other well-regarded program.  The classes should be fun and not at all…

Social Impact bonds are “a new strategy for improving the performance of government programs. In short, private investors — typically foundations — pay the costs of a new program in its early years, and the government later repays the investors, often with a bonus, as long as the program…

International Water Safety Day

By Mike Gustafson/Correspondent

It’s such a simple, beautiful idea, I was shocked to learn prior to this year, it did not exist. Which perhaps only underscores its urgency.



It’s called “International Water Safety Day.” Think “Earth Day” meets water safety awareness. On May 15th, the first ever Water Safety Day will…

I’ve highlighted several initiatives in the past few months.  Time for an update.

1.  Petition to the United…

We don’t get no respect.

One of the most common themes I hear from aquatics professionals is, ‘Why don’t people realize this is important?  Why don’t they understand?’.

The next most common theme is ‘should…

There are as many messages about water safety as there are organizations and individuals working on the issue - which makes it pretty confusing to the general public.  The irony is that all the messages are pretty much the same.  I think we need to make them uniformly consistent -…

How do we end drowning?  We change people’s behavior around water. 

How do we change behavior?  We change intrinsic motivation, how someone acts even if no one else is around. 

How do we change intrinsic motivation?  Tell people what…

I was reminded time and again this week of why I like kids.  That is not to say that I would ever return to middle school, even on pain of death.  That is not to say that I think kids should rule the world and parents and adults should not be making the tough decisions and sticking with them.  It is to say…

My son spotted the t-shirt on the attached photo at the Shedd Aquarium gift shop last weekend.  It cracks me up every time I look at it.  It is reminiscent of Gary Larson’s brilliant Far Side cartoons that routinely turned our perceptions upside down with hilarious results.  We often think…

I believe that we in the drowning prevention field need to share information and resources more efficiently and effectively.  I believe we must begin to videotape conference presentations and post them to YouTube so a wider range of people can benefit from the…

The scene in the locker room was all too familiar.  Mothers with a variation of determined, frazzled, happy or ‘I’m just about to blow’ looks on their face wrestling pudgy toddler arms into winter coats and trying to maneuver feet into boots while the same oblivious child is determined to explore the…

There are wonderful theories about how we should end drowning.  Everyone should have one-on-one swim lessons with a qualified instructor.  Every pool should be fenced.  Every potentially dangerous body of water should be fenced with warning signs that the public obeys.  Parents should supervise…

Social media can be a powerful tool or a destructive influence.  We all know that well-chosen words can elevate or decimate, but we also know that time heals all wounds and being able to forget words, or at least add a rosy hue to the memory, can be a…

Natural disasters like flooding and tsunamis.  Unsafe environments like overloaded ferries or rickety boats.  Over-estimating…

Do you remember your baby’s first bath?  My children are 8 and 10 now and I still vividly recall the slightly concerned frown when they were first carefully lowered into the baby bath, which quickly dissolved into sheer bliss.  Just was exciting was the day they discovered that they had…