Helping Keep Your Kids Safe
Drowning can happen nearly anywhere with standing water — but as a parent or caregiver, you can’t keep your kids sidelined. By equipping kids with the tools they need to be confident in and around water, they’ll be able to reap the health benefits of exercise, bond with family and friends and take pride in their new skills — safely.
Teaching children how to be safe around water is not a luxury; it is a necessity. The YMCA of Metro Atlanta is committed to removing barriers that limit all people from developing their full potential, and that includes being safe around water.
What Is Safety Around Water?
Our Safety Around Water Program is comprised of eight 30-minute sessions to reduce the risk of drowning by giving children confidence in and around water. The program is geared toward unintended entries into the water and safety. Our goal is that if a child falls in, they can swim, float swim, tread, and exit the water. The levels build on skill sequences to enable a child to help save themselves or tread/float long enough for help to arrive.
A typical Safety Around Water session includes:
- Exercises to help kids adjust to being in the water
- Instruction in Jump, Push, Turn, Grab and Swim, Float, Swim, two skill sets kids can use if they unexpectedly find themselves in the water
- Specific safety topics like what to do if you see someone in the water who needs help
- Fun activities that reinforce these skills
Register for Safety Around Water Today
Adaptive Swim and Safety Around Water are sponsored by
Thanks to generous community grants and donations, we are able to offer financial assistance for this program.
For more information, or to find out if your child is eligible, visit our financial assistance page.
To discuss bringing Safety Around Water outreach programs to your location, please contact your closest YMCA and ask to speak to the aquatics director.
Please consider making a donation to support the Y’s Safety Around Water program:
- $60 sponsors one child
- $600 sponsors 10 children
- $1,200 sponsors an entire classroom
Water Safety Impact In Action
Water Safety Impact In Action
The YMCA of Metro Atlanta, Chattahoochee River National Recreational Area, and WABE partnered in 2022 to raise awareness about drowning prevention. The organizations developed a water safety campaign to encourage individuals to use personal flotation devices (PFD) or life vests while swimming or playing in the Chattahoochee River.