Traveling to the coast? Leave the blow-ups for swimming at home

Plastic inflatable toys are appealing – brightly coloured and often shaped like animals. They hang from the ceilings of almost every beach café in the country.

But these same toys are often the potential death traps the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) has to deal with each year.

If you blow it up, it can blow away.

Every summer, the NSRI and lifeguards watch families come to the beach laden with toys and these volunteers know emergencies caused by these are the hardest call-outs, as they involve young children.

In a typical scenario, the toy gets lifted off the sand by a light breeze and tumbles down the beach.

The little child dashes after his favourite toy, then an older child and a parent join in as the toy flips into the water. Soon, all family members are out of their depth in the quest to save the bit of plastic and that is when the trouble starts.

Also dangerous are larger toys that children can row on. Junior starts out in an innocuous looking lagoon, but soon his arms are too tired to paddle or he gets caught in a current.

At first he may enjoy riding the pull, but very soon he is either in deep water or heading for the river mouth and into the sea.

The NSRI encourages parents to leave plastic inflatable toys at home. They are not designed for the sea or rivers.

Should your child set out, riding on any sort of craft (even a blown-up crocodile), ensure they are wearing a life jacket. Life jackets are the seat belts of the sea and buy you time in an emergency.

Parents should ensure they know how to do CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) in order to be effective in keeping their child alive while they wait for an ambulance.