| "We hope parents will enjoy
reading Stewie the duck as much as their children," said Kim Leonard.
"It is so important for parents to teach their children about water
safety. Everyone needs to remember that whenever there is water never take
your eyes off your child." |
| |
| As pools open for
the season and families head to the beaches, this book will be a powerful
tool for parents to help teach water safety to their children. Authors Kim
and Stew Leonard, Jr., hope that their personal experience can prevent such
a tragedy from striking other families. |
| |
 Stewie the Duck Learns to
Swim
by Kim and Stew Leonard Jr.
with Dr. Lawrence E. Shapiro
"Stewie
the Duck Learns to Swim," is a child's first guide to water
safety. Written for children ages two through six, the book conveys
an important message of how to be safe near the water through the story
of Stewie, a duck who wants to swim with the 'big ducks,' but is prevented
from going in the water by his older sister until he learns the water safety
rules. |
| Stewie learns
the three main rules of water safety -- learn to swim, always wear a life
vest and having a grown-up watch you in the pool -- through a rhyming
song that is repeated throughout the book (sung to the tune of Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star). Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim also comes with a free
CD narration of the book and songs. |
| |
 Swimming Lessons with Stewie the Duck
by Kim and Stew Leonard Jr.
This is the follow up book to "Stewie the Duck learns to Swim". This book is all about the skills and fears children face when they first start taking swimming lessons. We have identified the most important steps for beginning swimmers. When most kids fall into water they panic and inhale. The lessons to learn are how to blow out their nose, roll onto their backs and then if they learn how to kick, they can easily get to the side of the pool or shore safely. Swimming Lessons with Stewie the Duck also comes with a free CD. |
| |
| The statistics
can’t be ignored. Drowning accidents are the second leading cause of
injury-related death for children between the ages of one and 14 (after
motor vehicle incidents), and the leading cause of accidental death for
children under five. This time of the year, especially, parents need to
be more cautious than ever: About 350 children under five years-old drown
in pools each year nationwide, and over half of these incidents occur in
June, July and August. Well over half of children under the age of four
who drown do so in residential swimming pools. A child can drown in the
time it takes to answer a phone. Seventy-seven percent of victims have only
been missing from sight for five minutes or less. |
| |
| These statistics hit too close
to home for the Leonard’s. While on a family vacation in 1989, the
Leonard’s 21 month-old son, Stewie, ventured into the pool unnoticed.
Within minutes of realizing he had disappeared, a house-wide search ensued,
when a yellow T-shirt was spotted floating in the pool. They tried in vain
to resuscitate him, but it was too late. |
| |
| “At first we did not know
what to do with the immense grief and loss we felt,” said Stew Leonard,
Jr. “We realized that through our experience, we would dedicate ourselves
to helping save the lives of other children, and that’s when we founded
the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation.” |
| |
| The
Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation, created in 1990, promotes
water safety awareness. The Foundation also provides thousands of swimming
lessons and safety equipment through local YMCAs and Swim America. |
| |
| "This is a
happy book with a serious message about water safety. I wholeheartedly recommend
this book for parents to read to their children." |
- Betty Philcox Voss, founder of the Norwalk
YMCA Girls Swim Team and Swim Coach for 42 years, as well as the 2001
recipient of the International Swimming Association Hall of Fame's Grande
Dame Award.
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