A Florida swim instructor has gone viral with a public service announcement for parents, warning them not to buy blue-colored swimsuits for their kids, as the color can make it harder to identify a child in the water.
“My daughter is a skilled swimmer,” Nicole told The Epoch Times. “She was just kind of playing on the steps, swimming around ... she was within arms’ reach of me.
“There’s a point where she’s swimming in the sun a little bit away from the steps, and she has a good three- to four-second independent swim. Most of her body was underneath the water’s surface, and with the sun reflecting off the water, in addition to the color of the bathing suit that she’s wearing, it makes it difficult to see her while she’s swimming.”
The optical illusion elicited a massive response from netizens, including comments from shocked and grateful parents who claimed they never knew blue swimsuits would create this effect. Nicole specified that she bought the swimsuit on clearance, only to use for the example in her video.
“Probably within a week and a half of it being up is when people started reaching out to me,” said Nicole, who has been a guest on New York radio’s Elvis Duran and the Morning Show since her video went viral. “It definitely blew up way bigger than I ever thought it would have.”
Inspired by her two daughters who love the water, Nicole got certified through Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) and started working as a swim instructor in June 2021, one month after enrolling her youngest for lessons.
“In the field of instruction, it’s pretty known that blue bathing suits blend in,” said Nicole. “So if for some reason they fall in below the surface, if they’re an inexperienced swimmer, or if something happens medically and they fall below the surface, in active pools, sometimes it looks like that child is swimming.”
A child in a blue swimsuit will “blend in with the environment” Nicole said, especially with pool water, reflecting light, and the bottom of the pool. She said, “A child that’s in a brighter color bathing suit, say a neon-colored bathing suit or red, yellow, or orange, would be easier identified.”
Nicole shares her best water safety tips and tricks for parents on social media in hopes of inspiring them to make safer choices for their kids. She especially has in mind parents from rural communities, who “maybe don’t have access to instructors.”
“Mostly, it’s about just educating parents on water safety and drowning prevention ... and then also to teach about lessons, because there are a lot of swim programs out there that aren’t necessarily safe. I want parents to know what to keep an eye out for,” she said.
