Keep them alive, always supervise

As part of the campaign, council is giving people the chance to win a free 10-week term of swimming lessons, for spreading the safety message – Keep them Alive, Always Supervise.
The campaign is aimed at parents, including those from diverse backgrounds, to make sure they understand the importance of supervising their children when around water.
Mayor Asfour said it’s no secret that families love heading to the water to cool off on hot summer days, and while the water can be fun, it can also be very dangerous.
“So it is incredibly important everyone understands there are consequences if children aren’t properly supervised,” he said.
“That is why we have launched this supervision campaign – to help people understand that to keep children alive when in the water, we must always be supervising them.
“We want the entire community to feel comfortable in understanding water safety messages, so that they can take this knowledge away and practice it confidently and, ultimately, prevent tragedies.”
To get involved in the campaign, people are encouraged to get creative and take a photo with the campaign posters and share their image on the City of Canterbury Bankstown Leisure and Aquatics’ Facebook Page, where they will have the chance to win a free term of swim lessons.
The campaign also aligns with Royal Life Saving NSW’s Keep Watch @ Public Pools guidelines for keeping children safe around water: 0-5 year olds and non-swimmers: a parent or guardian must be in the water with them, at all times, and be within arm’s reach of the child; 6-10 year olds: a parent should be close enough to make eye contact with the child; and 11-14 year olds: a parent must regularly check on their child by physically going to the point where they are in, or around, the water.
A report recently released by Royal Life Saving NSW found that over five years to 2018, 11 residents from Canterbury-Bankstown, all born overseas, died from drowning.