’10 seconds felt like 10 minutes’ – Mum warns parents to ‘get kids swim lessons’ after terrifying near-miss

Sophie Collins

A mum has revealed a terrifying ordeal she went through with her five-year-old while holidaying at a lake this week.

She quickly took to the internet to urge parents to get kids into swimming lessons young to avoid any scares while away this summer.

Posting online she wrote: “Here’s your 50-zillionth reminder to NOT be like me and keep a DAMN EYE on your kids while they’re near water.”

Tell her harrowing story, she explained that her eldest son is just five years old and they are visiting her parent’s cabin on a lake.

She said her kids are always wearing their puddle jumpers (life vests) and often jump off the boat or the dock for a swim while they’re there.

She explained in her Reddit post: “This weekend, some friends are in town and their two 13-year-olds were swimming with my kids.

“Their boy – I’ll call him Jack – is very smart and great with the kids. He will talk to them just like they’re adults and they love him.

“Everybody started getting hungry so we were slowly making our way out of the boat to go up to the house.

“The kids got out of the water and started to dry off. Nana had already headed up the hill, and my son wanted to go with her.”

She said she took her son’s puddle jumper off and gave him a towel so he could go with her.

The mum went on to say: “Then, stupid me, I stopped paying attention to where he was. I was getting our stuff together and about to step onto the dock, when Jack points down to the water and says “Is he allowed to swim without his float thing on?”

“And I’m like no.. and I hop out of the boat and see that my son is down on the other side of the dock just holding onto the edge of this big float they’d been playing on. No life jacket, nothing.

“So I’m like GET OUT OF THE WATER! and I don’t know if I scared him or if he would’ve done this anyway, but he lets go of the mat and is just like bobbing there in the water.

“I’m like split-second considering jumping in and getting him but thankfully he’s right beside the dock and he’s able to swim just enough to get back to the mat, and I reached in and pulled him onto the dock.”

She admitted that she believes they avoided something much worse happening but said her son was ok. He told her that he had forgotten his puddle jumper wasn’t on him anymore when he jumped.

“I don’t even think he swallowed any water, and it probably lasted less than 10 seconds, but it felt like 10 minutes,” she reassured readers.

“He was terrified too and was crying when I got him back up. I asked him why did he get back in the water? and he said he forgot he didn’t have his puddle jumper on.”

“I held it together at the time but once we all got inside and the kids started eating I had to go back in the bedroom and cry for a minute. It was so scary,” she admitted.

Just days after the scary moment, she said: “My mind just would not stop racing and I had to literally force myself to stop thinking about it.

“If Jack hadn’t noticed my son in the water, he might have just silently drowned and I never would’ve even known. I would’ve walked to the cabin and probably not even noticed he was missing until I tried to ask him what he wanted to snack on.

“By that point he would’ve already been dead at the bottom of the lake. I just can’t.”

She then said she was so thankful that her kids have had swimming lessons for over a year and know how to hold their breath.

“I’m so thankful for both of those things because that could’ve made the difference of him getting back to the mat like he did.”

The mother went on to urge other parents: “Get your kids in swim lessons and teach them to hold their breath. I used the trick my mom taught me on my kids where you blow on their face in the bath tub and I think it taught them to hold their breath really early.

“My daughter was jumping in the lake at 2 years old, holding her breath without holding her nose. No fear.

“These kids are pure water bugs. I can’t believe I let something like this almost happen. Most of all hug your kids extra tight tonight. I know I did.”