Stay safe around water

By CHAN LI JIN 
star2@thestar.com.my

Drowning cases are increasingly common these days. But water is not the enemy.

THE Cuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign has been a great success in promoting domestic tourism.
Every holiday, families flock to tourist destinations to enjoy the country’s natural wonders. More
often than not, water fun is one of the main attractions.

Unfortunately, many fun trips turn disastrous with cases of drowning, usually involving children.
The recent case where a couple lost three of their children while picnicking at a seemingly serene
river is one such example.

What’s obvious is shallow waters are no guarantee of safety. Water accidents and deaths can
and do happen in homes, swimming pools, lakes and just about anywhere, because one can
drown in just four inches (10cm) of water.

So near yet so far

According to Life Saving Society Malaysia (LSSM), there are 200 cases of drowning in Malaysia
every year. Of these, 48% of victims are aged below 18. Drowning is more likely to claim a child’s
life more than any other accident. The ratio of drowning in boys to girls is 5:1, presumably
because boys are more bold and daredevil.

It is easy to assume that drowning usually happens to overly adventurous children who swim or
play too far away from their parents or caretakers.

Surprise, surprise: this can’t be further from the truth.

Lee Soon Keong, a life-saving trainer with Life Saving Society Perak, states: “Fifty-five per cent of
all drowning cases happen just 10 feet (3m) away from land. Forty-two per cent happen just six
feet (1.8m) away from land.”

What’s more, 70% of all preschool children who drown are in the care of one or both parents at
the time of drowning, says Lim Chee Gay, director of Life Saving Sport, LSSM.

“Drowning can happen within seconds. It’s not like in the movies, where drowning people splash
around and scream, ‘Help! Help!’ It usually happens silently,” adds Lim.

Over-dependence on floating devices is another cause for concern. “They give a false sense of
security to both parents and the children using them. It’s better to teach your children how to
swim and water-safe behaviour,” he says.

Lim reminds parents to monitor their younger children closely, not just keeping an eye while they
themselves laze by the pool or beach.

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“At beaches, in particular, children ought to be supervised even with lifeguards present. The key
message is simply ‘prevention, prevention, prevention.’”

Outdoor dangers

According to Izni Idris, the founder of adventure sports company My Adventure Host
(www.myadventurehost.com), water accidents happen mainly because children are taught to
swim but not taught water safety.

Rivers have the highest cases of drowning (51%). Crystal-clear waters make rivers appear
shallower than they really are, while the nearby forests make a river seem safe from outside
influences.

“Parents must check out a picnic spot before bringing their children there,” Izni advises. “Look for
danger signs or ask the local people where the danger spots are.”

Flash floods at rivers are the most common cause of drowning.

“Avoid picnicking or swimming at rivers during the rainy season,” stresses Chan Kwai Fong, vice-
president of LSSM.

“Even on a sunny day, precautions must still be taken,” he says. “Watch out for signs such as
lightning or thunder in the distance. The surroundings will go silent suddenly as birds and animals
run for cover and the atmosphere turns cool as pressure builds up in the air.”

These signs mean only one thing: Pack up and leave. By the time you hear loud rumbling
signifying the huge rush of water downstream, it will be too late, warns Chan.

Water hazards at home

Apartments and condominiums with swimming pools prove to be irresistible to young children
who often pester their parents to go for a dip. Never allow them to swim unsupervised because
most pools do not have certified lifeguards.

“It’s not uncommon for the security guard or cleaner to double up as the lifesaver,” says Lee, who
once witnessed a boy drowning at an apartment pool. “The security guard-cum-lifeguard, instead
of helping, ran away in fright!” he relates.

Other hazards include koi and garden ponds, bath tubs, even aquariums and spas/jacuzzis. It is
impractical to ban them, but extra vigilance would be necessary.

“Nobody is water-safe all the time. It’s important to know basic life-saving techniques so that you
can help resuscitate someone who almost drowned. You never know, it could be your loved one,”
says Lim.

This is the second of four fortnightly articles as part of a nationwide child safety campaign, Smart
Parents, Safe Kids, organised by parenting2u and Columbia Asia Hospitals from this month to
July. 

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Stop treating kids like objects
But Then Again
By MARY SCHNEIDER

It’s bad enough that women get filler injections to prop up saggy parts, now a mother has
admitted she Botoxed her young daughter for future stardom.

I recently read about a woman who injected her seven-year-old daughter’s forehead with Botox,
and augmented her young lips with fillers. Not satisfied with her child’s smooth brow and pouty
lips, she also had her eyebrows tattooed.

When asked why she had submitted her daughter to the painful and potentially dangerous beauty
regimen, she declared that it was to help the girl win beauty pageants and be better prepared for
stardom.

“To be a superstar you have to be different and highly styled,” she said. “That is why I am doing
this. She is my child and this is my decision – it will help shape her for the rest of her life.”

Shape her into what? Some sort of narcissistic, self-absorbed creature with a distorted self-
image?

Children’s beauty pageants give young girls the message that it’s alright to value themselves for
superficial attributes, that their physical appearance is all-important. Such events can only be
described as exploitative, with young girls often encouraged to adopt sexualised stances and
gestures that they don’t understand.

The first mini beauty pageant I witnessed first-hand was in a shopping mall in Penang. Before the
contest began, a girl of about five was being coached by her pushy mother “backstage” in full
view of curious passersby.

At an age when most girls are at home watching cartoons and eating ice cream, she was
practising her smile, tilting her head to one side and fluttering her false eyelashes. There was
something grotesquely carnival-like about her over-the-top makeup and midriff-baring outfit.

The emcee for the event, a bloated, sweaty man of about 60, interviewed each of the contestants
for a few minutes, after they had sashayed onto the make-shift stage and twirled in front of the
spectators.

“Wah! So sexy-lah!” he announced when the five-year-old came on and did an impromptu
Hawaiian dance.

The girl smiled, her mother beamed and I felt like throwing up all over the red carpet. My flesh
crawled at the thought of a mature man finding a five-year-old girl sexy.

But I digress.

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Back in the other La La Land, the one inhabited by the Botox mum and the daughter who aspires
to have a trout pout, the hapless mother admitted that she administered the Botox and filler
injections herself.

It seems she went online and bought a starter Botox kit, and then read up on the Internet about
the correct way to inject the stuff. Like how scary is that?

Whatever next? A DIY open heart surgery starter kit?

You would think that something as potentially dangerous as Botox would have to be injected by a
qualified physician, but Botox Mum disagrees.

“I had done a 12-week beautician’s course four years ago so that knowledge helped,” she
announced.

Some years ago, I took a calligraphy class for a few months. But if you were to ask me now to
write something elegant and flowing, I wouldn’t be able to do it. The same applies to the short
courses I took to learn how to create beautiful flowers from bread dough (the cockroaches ate
them), tap dance and stand on my head to give my kidneys a rest.

I’ve even seen first-hand the scary effects of Botox administered by someone inexperienced. An
acquaintance of mine once had a beautician (a woman barely qualified to give facials and
Brazilian waxes, never mind plunge a long needle into someone’s face) inject her forehead and
lips with the stuff.

The beautician must have been a little overzealous because her client ended up with a droopy
eyelid that made her look half asleep. She had to wear sunglasses to work for several weeks until
the effects of the Botox began to wear off.

It was the same thing with her lips. When she tried to drink water, her incapacitated muscles
couldn’t hold it in and the fluid immediately flowed out of the side of her mouth, making her look
like someone with a huge drool problem.

Anyone who injects their children with poison and leaves them open to such side-effects isn’t fit to
be a parent. Indeed, Botox Mum’s daughter is now in protective care, while the case is being
investigated.

Also, many cute kids don’t grow up to be attractive adults. Just look at Hollywood and you’ll see
thousands of former child stars and wannabes who can’t come to terms with the fact that they’re
just not that good-looking anymore.

If only some parents would stop focusing so much on their children’s physical attributes, we’d
have a lot more healthier adults on this planet.

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Where is the logic?
If your father is a poor man, it is your fate,
but if your father-in-law is a poor man, it's your stupidity.

I was born intelligent - education ruined me.

Practice makes perfect.....

But nobody's perfect, so why practice?

If it's true that we are here to help others,

then what exactly are the others here for?

Since light travels faster than sound, 

people appear bright until you hear them speak.

How come "abbreviated" is such a long word?

Money is not everything.

There's Mastercard & Visa.

Behind every successful man, there is a woman

And behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.

Every man should marry.

After all, happiness is not the only thing in life.

The wise never marry.

And when they marry they become otherwise.

Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today.

"Your future depends on your dreams" so go to sleep

"Hard work never killed anybody"

But why take the risk

"Work fascinates me"

I can look at it for hours

God made relatives;

Thank God we can choose our friends.

The more you learn, the more you know,

5
The more you know, the more you forget
The more you forget, the less you know
So... why learn?

A bus station is where a bus stops.

A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk, I have a work station.... 
what more can I say........

-Author Unknown-

Have a nice day!