“You wouldn’t wish it on your enemies”: on the eve of the May holiday with children, parents were reminded of fatal mistakes

On the eve of the May holidays and summer holidays, when Russian mothers and fathers do everything possible to ensure that their children have plenty of baths and soak up the sun, insurance experts are forced to remind parents of their most fatal misconceptions and mistakes when vacationing with children.

“Ours didn’t get out of the water for hours!”, “Mine dived from the pier further than the adults,” “Flying from the slides in the water park like an astronaut, all day there, and my husband and I stuck out like newlyweds.” “Family insurers” – specialists in insuring family holidays with minors – give similar quotes as an example of the tragic negligence of the “stupidest” of parents. According to internal statistics of domestic insurers, accidents with children on vacation do not occur often, but if they do occur, they are serious. Over the past six months, for example, there have been two accidents involving the drowning of preschool children in hotel pools.

“The peak of traveling with children is just around the corner, and we usually shudder,” shares Victoria, a travel insurance salesperson. – The worst thing for me and my colleagues is when we are already formalizing something that we wouldn’t even wish on our enemies – hospitalization, or even posthumous repatriation – to hear from parents something like: but how can this be?! Our son has a category in swimming! We repeat it every year, but some still don’t get it. A champion swimmer can drown even in a glass of water. Since drowning is when a person chokes, this is possible even if water from a glass gets into the wrong throat.

With the involvement of pediatricians, as well as first aid specialists, insurers have compiled a memo for parents.

“Swimming for hours” is a crime against the child’s health, even if the sea is warm. Prolonged stay at sea, even in a healthy person, can cause hypothermia and convulsions or sunstroke or thermal stroke in the active sun. When you arrive at your holiday destination, monitor the local UV index (you can look it up on the Internet), and if it is higher than normal, skip swimming or use sunscreen with a high SPF factor (50 or 50+) on your child’s face and body. Although for some reason many parents are proud of the fact that they do not “smear any chemicals on their child.”

He is fair-haired, and a Panama hat is only for dark-haired people – another common parental misconception on vacation. For some reason, many mothers and fathers think that the sun “attracts” only dark hair, and a fair-haired child won’t get a scorch even in the hot sun. According to doctors, this has nothing to do with reality: a hat in the active sun is necessary for any hair color, age, height and weight, and especially for children, since, unlike adults, they do not lie under an umbrella, but play and running on the sand in the open sun. And hot sand plus direct sunlight is a direct and quick path to sunstroke or heatstroke, the consequences of which can be the most tragic – from vomiting and fever to serious complications on the brain, heart and blood vessels.

In southern countries, as well as in the midst of hot summer anywhere, you can be in the open sun until noon and after 16.00. In between there is a siesta or a day’s rest in bed; it is not for nothing that the inhabitants of countries under the scorching sun invented it in ancient times.

“Just think, I got burned!” – another parental error indicating ignorance of the essence of the issue. Getting sunburned isn’t just unsightly, painful burns. And not even a day of chills and bed rest in a compress of yogurt or panthenol. Getting sunburned is a serious thermal injury to the skin, a real burn, in the event of which the body uses its reserve forces to save the damaged area, which may not be enough for any other “insurable” health event. It’s better to “smear yourself with chemicals” or sit in the shade, but not spoil your vacation with sunburn, which, under unfavorable circumstances, can also turn out to be an excellent gateway for all sorts of infections.

The threat of sunstroke and burns is present not only on the beach, but also on excursions. Alas, not all parents are aware that in southern countries you can get sunburned even with visible clouds and low air temperatures. For example, on a trip to the mountains or during a sea or river walk, rafting (down a mountain river) and so on.

An adult should constantly supervise a bathing child, even if the child is an excellent swimmer. It is unacceptable to leave babies in the water in the care of older children, even if they are wearing arm guards or life jackets.

In a water park or hotel pool, you should not rely on lifeguards. Their job is not to prevent an emergency, but to save those who are already drowning (if they are lucky enough to notice it in a timely manner). And drowning children, according to rescue statistics, most often do not call for help at all, since they themselves do not understand what is happening. A child can silently drown in water, even in shallow water and right in front of his parents. Therefore, adults should not take their eyes off the little bather for a second, having previously provided him with reliable equipment, even if he knows how to swim.

All children, without exception, as well as good swimming teenagers, if they dive at depth (from a pier, from a boat, etc.) must have insurance in the form of a life jacket – and not an inflatable one, which can be blown away from contact with a strong wave in the sea or with a piece of equipment in a water park, but a real one, with foam inserts. In specialized travel stores these are available in all sizes, even for babies.