Roswell toddler drowning prompts renewed calls for swim lessons, pool safety in metro Atlanta

Courtney Christy has been bringing her 5-year-old son, Liam, to the Swimmerman Swim School in Midtown for lessons since he was a baby. She says stories like that of the 2-year-old that drowned Sunday in a Roswell pool disturb her.

"I feel like those are like the horror stories as a parent, especially a new and young parent that you hear about. And those are definite fears that I have, because it just takes a moment for them to accidentally go in the water and you're not going to hear anything," Christy said.

Olivia Taylor, the assistant manager of the swim school, says clearing up misconceptions about what drowning actually looks like and getting anyone comfortable in and around the water, are some of the most important parts of teaching someone how to swim. 

"It is not like how you see it on TV at all," Taylor said. "It is oftentimes extremely quiet and not there's no splashes, there's no one above the water saying, 'help me.' What it is, is quite literally a struggle right under the surface of the water." 

The Georgia Department of Public Health reports that from 2020 to 2024, drowning was the second leading cause of death for children between one and four. Taylor encourages parents or guardians to not only supervise -- but to also get in the water with kids. 

"...Not just children who are, you know, toddler age or elementary school age, it doesn't really matter your age or or your height or anything like that, you can still be a victim to water and drowning."

Christy raised some other water safety tactics.

"Walking feet when they're around the pool, one of the first things, even when they were babies, was learning how to crawl along the edge and learning also how to climb out of the pool with leg, leg, body-leg, leg, arm, arm."

Craig Sears, the founder of Swim Safe, Inc, a water safety nonprofit, encourages anyone who has a pool to use safety equipment, like having a physical barrier and secure fencing  around the pool. 

"(A)nd making sure that we don't leave things like toys floating in the pool during the nonswim hours because that can be attractive nuisances and they draw little ones to the pool because they see that colorful toy floating out there."

Sears also says parents should communicate with their children about when it's time to get out of the water. He points out that children might get back in while parents are preocuppied. 

"When you're leaving the pool is a typical transition time when we see drowning incidents happen more often…the child at that time is still thinking about, 'well, I'm still here in the pool area. Now is a great time to get back in; mom's busy, and they may jump back in the pool and mom may not notice." 

"Water is a big part of life, especially here in Atlanta," Christy said. "So I think the sooner the better. And it's not just about learning how to swim, it's learning to be comfortable and challenging themselves as kids, getting confidence in new ways."

Swimmerman Swim School says it will be relocating from its Midtown location to a new facility in Hapeville in the near future.