Content warning: risk to children

Julia and I knowdrowning is the biggestrisk to US children under 5, and we try to take this seriously.But yesterday our 4yo came very close to drowning in afountain. (She's fine now.)

This week we were on vacation with my extended family: nine kids,eight parents, and ten grandparents/uncles/aunts. For the last fewyears we've been in a series of rental houses, and this time onarrival we found a fountain in the backyard:





I immediately checked the depth with a stick and found that it wouldbe just below the elbows on our 4yo. I think it was likely 24" deep;any deeper and PA wouldrequire a fence. I talked with Julia and other parents, andreasoned that since it was within standing depth it was safe.

[...]

---

First published:
July 20th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Zf2Kib3GrEAEiwdrE/shallow-water-is-dangerous-too

---



Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---

Images from the article:

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.