“Where there’s water, I will wait.”
That’s Dayna Harvey’s philosophy when it comes to water safety.
“We teach them to wait when they go out to a parking lot. We don’t just let them run out there. We use words like, ‘hold my hand,’ or ‘wait for me,’ but around water, we’re not doing that as diligently,” Harvey said.
There are three pillars.
“Parents will watch, children will wait and families will swim,” Harvey said.
Parents are a key part of what Harvey teaches.
“The definition of supervise is to observe...mmm, that’s not good enough when it’s around water,” she said.
She tells 10 News if your child is in water, an adult needs to be too.
And floatation devices are not a substitute.
“The definition of watch is to be alertly on the lookout — so around water, that’s what I want to instill in parents, that you are watching your children at all times,” she said.
She said that means not sitting out on the side, or in a chair.
“On our phone or chatting with friends,” she said.
Next, is waiting.
We saw that in action, when Harvey’s three friends who joined her for swim class.
Every child gets a mat, where they sit and wait for permission to enter the water.
There’s also red tape, showing them the pool is closed. When Harvey is ready, they open the pool together, and she invites them in.
They finish every lesson with a splash — and head straight back to their mats.
“They give their parents a thumbs-up signal. And that signals Ms. Dayna is now letting them go and the parents have to return the thumbs up to acknowledge I know how my eyes on you and I am ready to take responsibility of you,” she said.
And the kids take this to heart.
“We will wait!” 6-year-old Hunter said.
In July, Harvey heads out on a 101-day cross-country trek with the goal of spreading her message of water safety.
She and her ‘waiting whales’ will go to preschools, daycares, special education centers and more, teaching kids and parents to watch, wait and swim.
Her classes for the summer are full, but you can find her curriculum, along with the waiting mats, closed tape, and free downloads here.
