If your summer fun includes spending time in the water, follow these safety tips to help keep your children safe from water-related accidents:

General Tips:

- Teach children to never swim alone, and to only swim in designated swimming areas.

- Always watch children when they are in or near the water, even if they know how to swim! Do not get distracted by phone calls, text messages, reading, or talking to others.

- Learn how to swim if you do not know how, and teach your children to swim. Children who can't swim well or at all should be within your reach and should wear life jackets.

- Learn adult and child CPR

- Keep a phone near you but use it only to call for help in an emergency.

- If a child is missing, check the water first!!!

Pool Safety:

- Cover and lock pools or spas when you are not using them, or if above ground remove or lock the pool ladder.

- Use door, gate, and pool alarms!

- Put up a fence around the entire pool at least 4ft high, preferably with a locking gate that closes and latches by itself.

- Teach children not to play or swim near pool drains, and use approved anti-entrapment drain covers.

Beach, Lake, or Boating Safety:

- Teach children about the differences in swimming in a pool and open water. Tell them about uneven surfaces, river currents, undertow, and changing weather patterns.

- Children and adults, especially those that don't swim well or cannot swim, should wear U.S. Coast Guard approved life jackets. This is especially important when boating and doing water sports. Make sure you choose the correct life jacket for your child, making sure it is appropriate for their size and weight, their chin and ears do not slip through the neck opening, their head is held above the water by the jacket, and that it is properly fastened.

- Keep an eye on the weather, waves, and currents! Teach children how to swim out of a rip current and how to float and swim in a life jacket.