Winston Family YMCA<\/a>, emphasized the urgency of teaching children to swim.<\/p>\n\u201cDrownings can happen in a matter of seconds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The YMCA is one of the bill\u2019s strongest advocates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is done at an age where they can really retain the information, the skills and really learn,\u201d Delonyx said.<\/p>\n
Aquatics Programs Director Mayumi Teensma said even her own childhood swim lessons set a foundation that led her to swim teams, lifeguarding and long-term water safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned how to swim at a YMCA in California from the earliest you can sign in, which is 6 months old,\u201d Teensma.<\/p>\n
Teensma outlined some of the basic survival skills taught in lessons, like turning and finding the pool wall after an accidental fall-in.<\/p>\n
\u201cJump, push, turn, grab,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s in case they fall into the pool, they can turn around and grab the wall themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also stressed safe rescue behavior for adults.<\/p>\n
\u201cReach or throw, don\u2019t go,\u201d Teensma said.<\/p>\n
Parents who use local swim programs say the lessons change attitudes and build confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went from sitting on the side of the pool crying to eager to get into the pool,\u201d said Dawn Moore, who has put her daughter in swim classes since she was a year old.<\/p>\n
Moore urged other parents to start lessons early.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet your child swimming as soon as possible,\u201d Moore said. \u201cStick them in there early. It may be a little uncomfortable for you, but think about the bigger goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The YMCA also urges parents and caregivers to supervise children closely around water and minimize distractions like phones, because drownings can happen quickly.<\/p>\n
If the bills pass, they would take effect this summer. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Water is everywhere in Florida \u2014 oceans, pools, retention ponds and backyard water features. With…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[9460,502,2805,1039,100,571,116,83514,5436,11387,99,83515,232,234,233,597],"class_list":{"0":"post-177369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-child-safety","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-drowning","11":"tag-duval-county","12":"tag-florida-legislature","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-keep-them-safe","16":"tag-morning-show","17":"tag-parenting","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-swim-safety","20":"tag-tallahassee","21":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","22":"tag-tallahassee-news","23":"tag-ymca"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}