Categories Of Lifeguarding

Over my two years of lifeguarding, I noticed the majority of beach goers fit into three categories. These include the drowners, beach bodies, and protective parents.

First, there are the drowners. This group is not necessarily bad at swimming. They are, however, the annoying troublemakers that the lifeguards would prefer not to save if they started to go under. Their parents treat the guards like baby sitters and refuse to take any responsibility for their children. The kids themselves will break every rule at the beach as if going down a checklist. For instance, one family, the Smiths, frequented the lake during my shift. Each day Mrs. Smith would mentally drop off her three little devils and I became their de-facto parent. Within the first five minutes of swimming they racked up an impressive tally that takes most swimmers a month to reach: five counts of pushing, three counts of throwing each other, two counts

They are the revered few who can actually control their children and are raising civilized human beings. Most importantly, these are the adults who care about their daughters and sons and keep a watchful eye just as closely as the lifeguards such as Mr. Brown. This saint made even a shift full of drowners tolerable. Every trip he made to the beach his angelic three-year-old daughter was in tow. On one particularly empty day, the two of them appeared for a short respite from the heat. With toddlers not known for their swimming abilities her father circumscribed their play time to the shallow end. Despite the extra precaution, she fell face down into the water and could not right herself. I immediately ran to help, yet before I could get there Mr. Brown noticed, lifted his daughter out of the water, and checked her for injuries.

Unfortunately, there is a trend of more beach goers being drowners. Parents seem too eager to place the responsibility of their children onto others and play Candy Crush or read their