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Growing up they were our idols, the high school kids too cool to ever look at you unless you were running or your brother had pooped in the pool. So stoic, so tan, and so not telling you what’s really on their minds…until now.

We hate floaties

“Arm floaties or swimsuits with life jacket-like belts sewn in are, in fact, dangerous. It’s a false sense of security. An arm floatie can pop and strand a weak swimmer far from a wall or shallow water. The life jacket belts can just as easily hold a kid upside down on the surface as right side up. There is no replacement for teaching your kids water safety skills and keeping a close watch.”

— Mary, a San Francisco lifeguard for 10 years

We need you to watch your kids

“Keep an eye on your toddlers. Hell, keep both eyes on them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a 2-year-old walk down the steps at the shallow end and keep walking until he’s underwater because he has no idea what’s happening. And Mom’s busy chatting 5 feet away, not paying attention.”

— Shaun, a Greenwich, Connecticut, lifeguard for six years

We swim after we eat

“No Red Cross records exist that anyone ever got a stomach cramp from going into the water too soon after eating.”

— Robert, a Far Rockaway, New York, lifeguard

Granted, the Red Cross doesn’t keep track of such incidents. But while cramping can occur, it’s rare and hardly life-threatening.Snopes.com dismissed that rumor in 2005, saying that there has never been a drowning attributed to entering the water less than an hour after eating.

Full story at CNN via Breakfast Links.

Summer safety.

Photo credit: Fotolia