Swim Instructor Shares Life-Saving Towel Hack For Kids

A swim instructor and water safety advocate has taken to TikTok to share life-saving tips and deadly mistakes surrounding infant safety. One of her latest tips has a lot of parents talking!

Nikki Scarnati is an ISR Swim Instructor and drowning prevention educator who’s taken to TikTok (@scarnati.swim) to help educate parents about water safety.

According to the Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the leading cause of death for kids ages 1-4. For children ages 5–14, drowning is the second leading cause of “unintentional injury death after motor vehicle crashes.”

Needless to say, it’s a huge issue and largely preventable.

In a recent video Nikki shared on TikTok, she shows the “proper” way to wrap a towel around a child after they exit the pool. It’s s important that it could save a life!

Many parents simply wrap the towel around their kids shoulders when they’re out of the pool, but Nikki points out how dangerous, and even deadly, that can be. You see, if a child falls into the pool with a towel wrapped around their arms and shoulders, they’ll be far less likely to self-rescue. A heavy towel weighing them down could be the difference between splashing for help and making it to the surface and quietly sinking to the bottom.

Instead, Nikki suggests wrapping the towel under the child’s arms and tucking it in. This way, the child has their arms free to self-rescue in the event that they fall back into the water.

“Thats right! Make sure your towel is UNDER your littles arms. NOT on top,” she captioned the video.

“Also- if they trip, they can catch themselves before hitting the ground,” one person commented.

Check it out for yourself below:

@scarnati.swim Thats right! Make sure your towel is UNDER your littles arms. NOT on top. Follow along for more water safety content 🥰 #selfrescue #selfrescueswimming #selfrescueswim #watersafety #drowningpreventionawareness #drowningprevention #springhillisr ♬ original sound – Nikki Scarnati

With summer fast approaching, it’s important to remain diligent about water safety!