In the summer of 1982, the McMullin family gathered for what should have been an ordinary celebration—swimming, games, food, laughter, and children racing around with siblings and cousins. Then everything changed. Twenty-two-month-old Nicholas was found at the bottom of the pool by an older child. He did not recover.
One enduring truth Lisa McMullin, Nicholas’s mother, has shared is a mindset common among families who suffer this kind of loss: most people believe it could never happen to them. Until it does.
In 2019, Lisa and her husband, Kim, founded the SWIM ON (Safer Waters in Memory of Nicholas) Foundation in the St. Louis area. The organization’s mission is straightforward and urgent: educate families on the practical steps that keep children safe and prevent pediatric drownings.
The stakes are high because drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1 to 4. Roughly 4,000 to 4,500 people of all ages drown in the United States each year; several hundred of those deaths involve children. Children with autism and other developmental disabilities face a sharply elevated risk, often tied to wandering and elopement, a child suddenly leaving a supervised area or caregiver without permission or awareness of the danger, making targeted education especially important.
Faced with these numbers, Lisa and Kim turned their grief into advocacy. Through the SWIM ON Foundation, they work to equip other families with the knowledge and tools to protect their youngest children.
The foundation promotes “layers of protection” summarized by the SAFER method:
Swim lessons: Early instruction can be lifesaving. Teaching young children to roll onto their backs and float buys critical time for adults to notice and respond. Many programs offer infant and toddler classes focused on water comfort and basic survival skills.
Adult supervision: Lisa recommends a “Watcher badge” system: a physical item that clearly identifies the adult currently responsible for watching the water, functioning like a designated lifeguard. When that person needs to step away—even briefly—the badge is passed to another adult who then keeps continuous eyes on the children.
Fences and gates: Treat these as the car seats of the pool. Most drownings occur when children are not expected to be near water. A physical barrier can stop a child who has slipped outside unsupervised. Many insurers now require barriers or offer discounts for them.
Emergency preparedness: Know CPR for both adults and children.
Regulation flotation: Use U.S. Coast Guard–approved life jackets during open-water activities for everyone, regardless of age, swimming ability, or how safe the water appears.
These are simple, practical solutions, though they're not always easily applied. Significant disparities remain across the country. Children from lower-income families often face cost barriers to lessons, and swimming may receive less cultural emphasis as a survival skill. Children with disabilities encounter additional hurdles: specialized instruction can be expensive, scarce, or sometimes require prior swimming ability as a prerequisite.
Communities can narrow these gaps by offering affordable community-led programs, ensuring public pools are accessible, and providing scholarships for families who cannot otherwise afford lessons.
Children with autism and other developmental disabilities face a distinct and urgent challenge. High rates of elopement drive much of their elevated drowning risk, and standard swim instruction is rarely designed for their needs. Instructors require specialized training; kindness and patience alone are not enough.
Conclusion
Drowning remains a leading cause of death for young children in the United States. It’s a painful reality to accept, but there is a silver lining: these tragedies are largely avoidable with a few preventative measures consistently applied by vigilant adults. As we enjoy our remaining summer days around the water, let’s take a few practical steps to make swimming safer for our kids and communities.
Desiree English
Desiree English is a high school science teacher with eight years of classroom experience. She holds a B.S. in Kinesiology and brings a unique blend of academic expertise and real-life “in-the-trenches” parenting to family and children’s content.
