Pawter in the Water Saves Lives by Teaching Kids Water Safety

Drowning is preventable, yet it remains the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 and the second leading cause of accidental death for children ages 5-14. But how do you teach enthusiastic and excited kids to pay attention to water safety? This is just the question that Angie Baker, swim school director at Sun Oaks Tennis and Fitness in Redding, and her longtime friend and experienced swim instructor Calli Brennan set out to answer.

Keeping Water Safety Lessons Simple

“Every year, Sun Oaks hosts school groups in May for swim and water safety lessons,” says Angie. “We are responsible for teaching water safety to 700-800 children each year and for a lot of these kids it’s their only exposure to the water.” Calli and Angie wanted to pack as much lifesaving knowledge as they could into these lessons. “Every year I was trying to condense the lessons to determine the most important messages we need to teach them and how we can get them to remember,” says Angie.

“We know that children learn through rhyming, repetition, songs and stories,” says Calli. Tapping their experience with the American Red Cross and Swim America programs and information from the National Drowning Alliance, they distilled swim safety principles down to five simple but essential rules kids need to remember to stay safe around water.

“We know that kids love a character, so we introduced Pawter.” Through his curious adventures, Pawter, a lovable puppy, learns the five most important rules of water safety. Angie and Calli called on their musical and innate storytelling skills to write songs and stories about Pawter to teach kids water safety in the way they learn best so they are sure to easily remember these essential rules. “It’s important to make it fun and positive. When kids remember the five rules, it saves lives,” says Calli.

™Growing the Pawter in the Water Program Reach

They told the Pawter stories and sang songs to school groups that came to Sun Oaks and at special Week of the Young Child events at Sun Oaks. “Parents loved it and asked if we could come teach in schools.” From this inspirational beginning, Pawter in the Water was born. “Pawter in the Water is a water safety education that teaches kids five lifesaving rules through rhyming stories and songs,” says Angie. “Every rule has a story and a song to go along.”
They realized they couldn’t go to every single school. “But it is important that
every child hears the message through the book and the songs,” says Calli.

The Pawter in the Water website offers videos featuring rhyming songs to help kids remember each of the five water safety rules and a Pawter in the Water
musical album. The best part is it’s all free!

Angie Baker and Calli Brennan pooled (no pun intended) their considerable talents to create Pawter in the Water, a joyful, engaging water safety course for children that can save lives. Photo provided by A. Baker

Water safety events are sponsored by First 5 Shasta, and Angie and Calli have self-funded the Pawter in the Water videos, website, book, and
album. “We believe in this message so much, it’s important to us that it be easily accessible,” says Angie.

“Our ultimate dream is that Pawter becomes the face of water safety like Smokey Bear is for fire safety, so when you see Pawter, he reminds you to be aware when water is there,” says Angie. “And he makes you smile!”

They would like to have Pawter in the Water adapted into a kids show. “Since drowning is the number one cause of death in young children, water safety should be taught in a fun way to all kids,” Angie says. They are seeking an investor that can help them connect to a children’s book publisher, a production company and agent. “Because we want this message to reach every child, we want to be loud and we want to make water safety a priority for children.”
You can access Pawter in the Water free videos and learn where to get their new, beautifully illustrated Pawter in the Water book at pawterinthewater.com.