My now almost two year old daughter starting swimming lessons when she was six months old. My five month old will also start young.

It’s important anywhere you live, but I believe in Florida, it’s borderline neglect if you don’t teach your child how to swim. This is my husband with our daughter at six months.

As a reporter, I covered so many drownings. One week, I did three separate ones.

Common sense tells us watching your kids around water and teaching them how to swim is important, but so many are not getting the message.

Here are some statistics you may not know:

FACT: About one in five people who die from drowning are children 14 and younger.

FACT: Children ages 1 to 4 have the highest drowning rates.

FACT: Among children ages 1 to 4, most drownings occur in home swimming pools.

FACT: Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children 1-4 than any other cause except congenital anomalies (birth defects).

FACT: Among those 1-14, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death behind motor vehicle crashes.

As far as not watching your kids around water, if you don’t know to do that – I can’t help you. But, I know swimming lessons can be expensive. I pay $20 a class which doesn’t sound bad, but after months and even years – it adds up, so here are some ways to keep your kids safe affordably:

• Look for coupons and special seasonal deals when looking for a pool to take swimming lessons
• If you have a pool, watch some youtube videos on the most effective ways to teach your child how to swim and become the teacher yourself
• Join local Facebook mom and family groups and start a discussion about a cost-effective way to teach your kids how to swim
• Check with your city, county or local organizations like the Drowning Prevention Coalition for free class vouchers

*Statistics from the CDC