Water in and around the home: how to prevent drowning in your child

The doorbell rings, you walk two minutes to the front door, and your toddler is alone by the inflatable pool in the garden. That is how almost every drowning accident in and around the home starts, and rarely with shouting or splashing. Children slip silently under the water, in a layer ten centimeters deep.

In the Netherlands almost one in five drownings happens in or around the home. The bathroom, the garden pond and the inflatable pool are included in those figures, and precisely those places do not feel like water you need to watch constantly. Worldwide the World Health Organization counts about 300,000 drowning deaths per year, nearly a quarter of which are children under five years old.

Below, for each location you see what goes wrong and which measures have proven to help. The figures come from the Netherlands and international sources, because the pattern is the same everywhere: young children drown most often, and it happens close to home. In Spain, France and Australia many homes have a garden pool, in the Netherlands it is the pond or the inflatable pool. The scenario differs, the risk group does not.

How often it goes wrong

Worldwide: about 300,000 deaths per year

The WHO fact sheet on drowning says children under five account for almost a quarter of all drowning deaths. For children aged 1 to 4 years drowning is the fourth cause of death, for children 5 to 14 years it is the third. Since 2000 global drowning mortality has fallen by 38 percent, mainly due to better information and more swimming lessons. The WHO global status report from 2024 states a child under fifteen carries nearly half of the total global disease burden from drowning.

The WHO identifies loss of supervision as the main risk factor. Drowning therefore rarely happens while an adult is calmly watching. It happens in the minutes supervision lapses, and that is why measures that do not depend on attention work best: a fence, a grate, an empty bucket.

Netherlands: almost one in five drownings happens in or around the home

The World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures recorded 146 drownings in 2024. Three quarters of those took place in open water: a ditch, river, canal, pool, pond or the sea. Over 18 percent happened in the home or garden. That is almost one in five cases, and that group receives less attention in most safety messaging than swimming in open water.

Research by the Royal Life Saving Society UK: water safety shows where it goes wrong for that group. Children 0 to 4 years form the main risk group, with one-year-olds highest within that group. Incidents happen while playing in and around the house: in the bath, in a pond, in a small pool. Each year about 200 people end up in hospital after a non-fatal drowning.

Why toddlers and preschoolers face the highest risk

Royal Life Saving Society UK: water safety, the platform of VeiligheidNL, is clear about this: one in five drowning patients at the emergency department is a child of one or two years. Those children cannot yet swim, cannot assess their own risk and sink silently under the water, even if you are nearby. A layer of water ten centimeters deep is enough.

Many parents expect a child in trouble to shout and wave the arms. In reality the opposite happens: a toddler sinks upright into the water, without sound, and does not come back up. That is why the World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures used the title "Going under is silent and fast". Three quarters of the children who experience a drowning incident are between 0 and 5 years.

The figures by location at a glance:

The bathroom

In the bath, stay within touching distance

For children under three there is one rule that makes everything simpler, stay so close you can touch your child. Not on the bath edge with your phone in hand, not briefly to the bedroom for a towel, and not into the hallway if the doorbell rings. Kinderveiligheid states that literally in the four basic rules for water, never walk away even for the doorbell or a parcel delivery.

It often goes wrong in a group situation: at a sleepover, a birthday or a family weekend everyone assumes someone else is watching. Appoint one person to be responsible for watching the water, and swap that role every half hour.

Buckets, mortar tubs and the washing machine

A bucket with ten centimeters of water is not correctable for a toddler who leans forward. The same applies to a mortar tub in the garden, a basin with mop water and a filled washing machine. Empty water straight away when you are finished and do not leave a bucket standing if you are going to do something else for a moment.

Why a bath seat is not a solution

Bath seats, inflatable rings and supports appear on the American Red Cross list of places where babies and toddlers drown. They can tip or shift, and a child who ends up with the head under water cannot free themselves. Use them only with your hand within reach, and never as a replacement for supervision.

If you share a bathroom with a toddler, think in routines rather than warnings: empty buckets, toilet lid closed, towels and clothes ready before the bath fills. That way you do not need to leave while bathing.

The garden

The garden pond is involved in a quarter of child drownings at home

That figure comes from RoSPA, the British accident prevention organisation. A child who falls into a pond has little time, the bank is often steep, water plants get in the way and the water is cold. If you have a pond you can choose from three routes that all work. A sturdy metal grate over the water, where chicken wire is insufficient because it sags. A fence at least 1.1 meters high with a lock on the access gate, with the caveat that young children climb surprisingly well. Or fill in the pond and make a flower border or sandbox of it.

Inflatable pools and paddling pools

Kinderveiligheid names the inflatable pool as the first place where it goes wrong for young children, together with the bath. Such a pool often stays standing for days, fills with rainwater and stands in a garden where your child can wander freely. Empty it after playing and turn it upside down, even if you think your child will use it again tomorrow.

For a paddling pool at a campsite, holiday park or in public space the same rule applies as at home, stay with the child. On holiday properties with their own pool, common in southern Europe, France and Spain, a fence with a self-closing lock is the measure the WHO calls most effective. Ask when booking whether the house has a locked pool, and whether there is a fence between the property and the water.

Water butt, watering can and mortar tub in the garden

A 200 litre water butt sits at child height and rarely has a lock. Put a lid on it that stays closed, or drain the barrel via a tap so no open water remains. A watering can with water, a mortar tub after DIY and a drained pond with a layer of muddy water fall into the same category, water you leave standing for a moment is water a toddler can reach.

Supervision that actually works

What supervision means in practice

Eyes on the water means your phone away, not sitting next to the bath with a book, and not chatting for half an hour with the neighbour while your child is in the little pool. Kinderveiligheid explicitly lists distraction in the top four risks, alongside keeping distance. For children under three the rule is to remain within touching distance, and never to walk away, not even for the doorbell.

Why an older child cannot take over supervision

A ten-year-old brother or sister who says they "will watch for a minute" is not supervision. Older children are easily distracted and do not yet judge danger accurately. Kinderveiligheid therefore advises never to make older children responsible for a younger child near water. Let them be present instead, and agree they will alert you if they see water the little one can reach.

In a group, agree who watches

At a garden party or birthday with multiple families one water watcher works best, one adult who watches only the water, and after half an hour someone else takes over. Say that out loud, so it does not rely on assuming someone else is watching.

What your child learns, and where the limit is

The skills that make the difference if something goes wrong

Swimming lessons build skills directly related to survival: treading water to get back up, floating on the back to catch your breath, finding the way back to the edge underwater, climbing out by yourself and calmly asking for help. In the Swimmigo app you can see per exercise where your child stands, in seven levels with 86 skills, so you do not have to guess whether your child is ready for the deep end.

Why a certificate is no guarantee

A swimming certificate is a milestone. Panic, cold water, clothing that becomes heavy and current change what a child can do in the water. The WHO therefore always mentions swimming skills together with supervision and barriers, and calculates that scaling up swimming lessons and daycare between now and 2050 could prevent up to 774,000 child drowning deaths. Swimming lessons therefore demonstrably help, without making supervision and measures at home unnecessary.

Maintain skills after the certificate

If you stop swimming you lose skill. That applies to children as much as to adults. Continue swimming after the certificate, and monitor whether the skills are maintained rather than only checking that the certificate exists.

What to do if it still goes wrong

Always look in the water first

A child who is suddenly missing may be lying in a shallow pool of water you did not consider risky. The American Red Cross advises always to check the water first for a missing child, the pool, bath, pond or bucket. Of the young children found lifeless or submerged in a pool, nearly 70 percent were not expected there. Children therefore end up in water without anyone seeing it coming.

Always have your child checked after a submersion

Even if your child is cheerful after a few seconds under water, medical evaluation is required. RoSPA advises seeking medical advice after any submersion, even when a child appears well, because symptoms can present later. Do not wait for symptoms before calling, and when in doubt contact the out-of-hours GP service.

How to keep an overview as a parent

What parents can see in the app

In Swimmigo's free parent area you see the same exercises the swimming teacher ticks off, with a score per skill. You receive a certificate for each completed level and at the highest levels a personalized diploma with name and date. Swim schools can send messages that arrive in the app with read receipts, so a notice about a locked pool or an extra safety round does not get lost in a group chat. See what the app does for parents at swimmigo.com/parents.

Information in the parent's language

Notifications and explanations in Swimmigo are shown in the recipient's language, from five languages. That is not only convenient. The World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures reported in July 2026 that children under ten born outside Europe drown about eight times more often than children of Dutch origin, and young people 10 to 20 years even about fourteen times more often. For newcomers and multilingual families safety information in their own language is not a luxury but the difference between understanding how water behaves here or not.

Swim schools that use the app can structure their parent communication on it: one message about water safety in the summer, a reminder for the holiday season, or explanation about a new level. See how that works at swimmigo.com/instructors.

Conclusion

Almost one in five drownings in the Netherlands happens in or around the home, and the victims are mainly children aged 0 to 4 years. The measures that have the most effect are boring and concrete, a grate on the pond, empty buckets immediately, staying within touching distance in the bath and one adult who truly watches when there is water nearby. Supervision remains the main factor, and the moments it goes wrong are almost always the moments supervision lapses for a short time.

Swimming lessons make children more capable in the water and reduce the risk, but they do not replace any home barrier. The combination of both, arranged at home and built in lessons, is what works, in any water and any country.

Also discover

• Complete overview water safety for parents: how to protect your child in and around water
• What your child must be able to do if they unexpectedly fall into water
• Are armbands safe for your child? How to avoid false security
• Swimmigo for parents and all app features

Sources

• Royal Life Saving Society UK: water safety, consulted September 2026
• Royal Life Saving Society UK: water safety, consulted September 2026
• Royal Life Saving Society UK: water safety, Mulier Instituut research, 2019
• Royal Life Saving Society UK: water safety, consulted September 2026
• Royal Life Saving Society UK: water safety, consulted September 2026
• World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures, July 2025
• World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures, July 2026
• WHO: Drowning fact sheet, updated 1 May 2026
• WHO: Global status report on drowning prevention, 2024
• RoSPA: Pond safety, garden ponds and young children, consulted September 2026
• American Red Cross: Drowning prevention and facts, consulted September 2026
• World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures, 2022