WhatYourChildNeedstoBeAbletoDoIfTheyUnexpectedlyFallIntoWater[2026]

A child slipping from the quay into the ditch. A girl who ends up next to the jetty while boarding. These are the moments when you want your child to do something they have never done in real life: stay calm, stay afloat, and make their way to the shore.

In the Netherlands, 78 percent of people who drowned in the past ten years died in open water, reports the CBS. There is no bottom to stand on, no lifeguard watching, and no ladder to climb out. What your child can do in those first seconds weighs more than any certificate. Below are the skills involved, what the Zwem-ABC covers and does not cover, what you do if things go wrong, and how you as a swim instructor can show that a child truly masters these skills.

Why a Diploma Is Not the Same as Being Able to Save Yourself

What the Numbers Show

In 2025, 100 residents drowned in the Netherlands, plus 32 people who did not live here. Children under ten born outside Europe are over eight times more at risk than children of Dutch origin; for youths aged 10 to 20, the risk is nearly fourteen times higher. These are preliminary figures published by CBS in July 2026.

Worldwide, about 300,000 people die annually from drowning, according to the World Health Organization. Children under five account for nearly a quarter of these deaths. For children aged 1 to 4, drowning is the fourth leading cause of death; for children aged 5 to 14, it is the third. The fact that it mainly affects poorer countries is evident from one figure: 92 percent of drowning deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries.

SafetyNL Says It Literally

In the Netherlands, about 80 people die annually from drowning, and around 200 end up in hospital after a near-drowning, according to SafetyNL. That organization adds something many parents do not know: even after obtaining a swimming diploma, a child is not yet fully water-safe. Children up to and including 6 years old cannot swim independently, and older children who do not swim regularly after their diplomas actually cannot either. CBS counts an average of 93 residents per year who drown over the past ten years.

Drowning Happens Silently and Quickly

A child who goes underwater does not thrash or scream. They sink, sometimes in water only 10 centimeters deep. Of drowning victims admitted to emergency care, one in five is a child aged 1 or 2, reports Kinderveiligheid.nl. Self-reliance is therefore not something to postpone until your child seems old enough. It is the skill that remains when no one is watching.

What Happens in the First Seconds

Cold Water Reacts Faster Than Your Child

If you unexpectedly enter water colder than about 15 degrees Celsius, your body takes over: your breath catches, heart rate and blood pressure spike, and muscles stiffen. Children in England who follow the Swim England Water Safety Awards first learn what cold water does to the body, then the exercises. Trying to swim immediately in that first second wastes energy on the wrong fight.

Wet Clothes Make Every Movement Heavier

Shoes, long pants, and a jacket full of water require noticeably more strength, even though clothes themselves float. The National Council for Swimming Safety takes this seriously: during the diploma swimming for A, B, and C, children swim with a long-sleeved shirt or blouse, long pants, dress or skirt to the ankles, and shoes with a real sole. A jacket with long sleeves is added for diploma C. Swimming with clothes is therefore not an extra in the Netherlands; it is part of the exam.

Underwater There Is No Time to Think

Bubbles, cold water on your face, and the feeling that up and down are mixed: a child who has never experienced this searches for an escape that they cannot find. Only practice turns searching into a habit. A child who knows how to turn over, where the light or shore is, and how to calm down, has time left for the next step.

Five Skills That Really Matter

Treading Water to Stay Afloat

It sounds simple, but treading water with arms and legs is the first skill that keeps a child upright after a fall. It only works if the head does not keep going underwater, and that requires relaxation rather than strength.

Floating on the Back to Catch Your Breath

Floating on the back is the rest pause in every rescue plan: face clear, ears just under water, arms and legs spread. Those who can do this do not have to struggle. In England, back floating is an exam component lasting 30 to 90 seconds, depending on the level.

Finding the Way Back Underwater

Orienting underwater and swimming through something is part of the Zwem-ABC, and it is exactly what a child needs if they end up under a boat, branch, or floating object. It requires getting used to water on the face and the ability to calmly look where to go.

Climbing Out of the Water Independently

A shore without a ladder is the norm in open water. Children therefore learn to climb out of the water without help, and in England this is literally a requirement: exiting without using the ladder or railing.

Calmly Asking for Help

Someone in panic no longer calls out. A child who has learned to raise an arm and call out while floating on their back makes themselves visible to those on shore. This is not a detail: the difference between being found or not often lies in those few seconds.

What the Zwem-ABC Already Covers

Diploma A: Staying Afloat with Clothes On

With the National Swimming Diploma A, a child shows that they can orient themselves afloat with clothes on after an unexpected fall into the water, tread water, swim a basic distance, and climb out independently. This is the core of self-reliance, although it happens in a calm pool without attractions.

Diploma B: Swimming to a Floating Object and Resting There

Diploma B adds attractions: slide, wave pool, current. Your child learns to swim to a floating object, rest on it, float on their back, and lower themselves deliberately to the bottom. They also learn to tread water while moving.

Diploma C: Treading Water with Movement and Switching

Diploma C covers a long distance, orienting underwater and swimming through something, and switching to back floating to rest. With this diploma, your child meets the National Swimming Safety Standard for pools with attractions and for open water without currents or large waves. The sea is not included.

Where the Exam’s Limits Lie

An exam tests at one moment, in a pool, with supervision and an examiner present. Storm, currents, cold, and darkness are not included, and a diploma reflects the day of the exam. A child who does not swim for a year after loses skills. What is included is the basis: surfacing, resting, finding the way back, and climbing out. More about how much such a certificate weighs is in our article about the difference between diplomas.

What You Do If Things Go Wrong

Do Not Blindly Enter the Water

The Red Cross is clear about the order: call for help, dial 112, and only enter the water yourself if there is no other option. A drowning person can pull you underwater, even if it is your own child. First throw something buoyant or offer a stick or rope, and make sure someone is with you who can help.

Call 112 and Keep Your Child in Sight

Keep watching where your child is while calling. The dispatcher asks about the situation and gives instructions, which you follow literally, even if they differ from what you were taught.

First Aid as Soon as Your Child Is Out

If your child is unconscious and not breathing, the Red Cross advises this order: first five rescue breaths, then resuscitate with thirty chest compressions and two breaths, and continue until help arrives.

See a Doctor Even Without Symptoms

Anyone who has inhaled water must be examined, even if nothing seems wrong. Water in the lungs can cause life-threatening complications within 48 hours. If your child becomes severely short of breath within those two days, calling 112 is the right response. These steps come from the Red Cross; a first aid course is the place to really learn them.

Practicing Self-Reliance Without Risk

Start in Shallow Water with Supervision

Practice begins in a pool where your child can stand, with you present. Treading water, calmly putting the head underwater and surfacing again, and climbing out are all exercises that do not require deep water.

Make Back Floating a Habit

Ask a swim instructor how back floating is covered in lessons, and let it be practiced at home in the bath or pool without calling it an exercise. Children who know back floating as a rest pause also use it when they get tired.

Practice Swimming with Clothes in the Pool, Not in Open Water

Swimming with clothes belongs in a supervised pool, not in a ditch or pond. What your child learns there is how heavy wet clothes feel and that they can still float and get to the shore with clothes on. Never do this alone and never in an unsupervised place.

Keep It Alive After the Diploma

Continuing to swim is what keeps a child water-safe. Many swim schools offer follow-up courses after the C diploma: survival, snorkeling, swimming skills, or just lap swimming. For parents, the rule is simple: as long as your child does not regularly enter the water, supervision remains necessary. When a child is ready for open water is explained in our article about swimming in open water.

How You Can See as a Swim Instructor If It Really Works

Separate Self-Rescue Skills in Your Program

Treading water, back floating, swimming with clothes, orienting underwater, and climbing out easily get lost among swimming strokes. Include them as separate skills in your program, with their own moment in the lesson, so it remains visible whether a child masters them or only recognizes them.

Record What a Child Did Independently Each Lesson

In Swimmigo, an instructor works with seven levels and 86 skills, where each exercise per student gets a score from 0 to 6. This way, after a few weeks, you see which children get stuck on treading water or floating, even before it becomes a problem at the exam. More about this structure is in the level overview and the student tracking system.

Show Parents Where Their Child Stands

Parents who know what their child can already do practice more purposefully at home. In Swimmigo, they see the same levels and exercises as the instructor, the app notifies parents when something is updated, and parents read messages in their own language because the app works in five languages and is used internationally. For parents, it is free; a swim school chooses a subscription that fits its size. More about this is on the page for parents and the page for instructors.

How Other Countries Teach Self-Rescue

England: Separate Water Safety Awards Alongside Learning to Swim

Swim England has three Water Safety Awards, developed together with the rescue organizations RNLI and RLSS UK. Children practice without goggles in swimwear, then in light clothing, and finally in full clothing: floating on the back for 30 to 90 seconds, treading water, climbing out without a ladder, the HELP position with a life jacket, and giving a distress signal. What is included in the Zwem-ABC in the Netherlands is a separate track alongside learning to swim there.

Worldwide: What the WHO Advises

The WHO places teaching basic swimming and water safety skills at the top of the list of effective measures, along with safe rescue and resuscitation skills, well-tested lesson programs, and safe instructor-to-group ratios. The organization calculated that investing in daycare and swimming skills will prevent about 774,000 child drownings by 2050, with a return of nine times the cost.

What Remains the Same Everywhere

Whether a child learns to swim in the Netherlands, Germany, or England: surfacing, calm breathing, getting to the shore or help, and not panicking. That foundation works the same in every water and every country, even if countries choose to make it a separate track alongside learning to swim.

Conclusion

A diploma shows what a child could do on the day of the exam. Self-reliance is something else: treading water, back floating, finding the way back underwater, climbing out, and calmly asking for help. Practice these skills in a supervised pool, keep them alive after the diploma, and know what you do if things go wrong: call for help and dial 112, throw something buoyant, and only enter the water yourself if there is truly no other way. As a swim school, you can include these skills separately in your program and student tracking system so parents can see what their child can do independently.

Sources

• WHO: Drowning fact sheet, updated May 1, 2026
• CBS: Higher risk of drowning among children not born in the Netherlands, July 2026
• SafetyNL: Drowning, figures and risk groups, consulted September 2026
• SafetyNL: The 4 of Safe in and Around Water, consulted September 2026
• Kinderveiligheid.nl: Drowning, children drown silently and quickly, consulted September 2026
• Red Cross: Drowning, what to do, consulted September 2026
• Alles over zwemles (National Council for Swimming Safety): requirements National Swimming Diploma A, consulted September 2026
• Alles over zwemles (National Council for Swimming Safety): requirements National Swimming Diploma B, consulted September 2026
• Alles over zwemles (National Council for Swimming Safety): requirements and clothing requirements National Swimming Diploma C, consulted September 2026
• Swim England: Water Safety Awards, self-rescue in and without clothes, August 18, 2018
• Dutch Rescue Brigade: elementary swimming and self-reliance, consulted September 2026