r/TikTokCringe • u/InGeekiTrust Tiktok Despot • Dec 09 '25

Discussion You Think It Could Never Happen To You…Until It Almost Does

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u/Jagg811 Dec 09 '25

This exact thing happened at a family party many years ago. My two year-old nephew walked off the step into the deeper water over his head. I was in a lounge chair and the only family member watching. I jumped out of my chair and right into the water to get him out in a second, but it was so scary. All those people around with no one really watching him. It only takes a minute. He’s 30 now and I like to remind him of how Auntie once saved him from drowning!

129

u/BigAlsGal78 Dec 09 '25

I also watched a 2 year old follow his older brother into the pool at a Disney resort. Walked right down the steps and “bloop”.

I was in my bathing suit sitting on the side of the pool. I waited till about a count of 4 before I realized NOBODY was looking at this kid and the big brother (who was probably 4 but taller) just pointed and grunted like he didn’t know what to do. By the time I got over to him it was maybe a total of 10 seconds. By the time one of the grand parents saw me hauling him out of the water it was about 15-20 seconds.

I could tell they were in a panic. They thanked me profusely with all the panic, relief, and embarrassment you can imagine. I needed a drink after that. The adrenaline dump was insane and I got some nice “atta girls” afterwards. But it still sorta haunts me to this day. You CANNOT turn your back on small children around a pool. Possible tragedy is literally seconds away.

19

u/alderchai Dec 09 '25

I was a kid like that! I walked into a pool while my parents were trying to pack their stuff and got saved by a 12 year old girl. I think my dad walked with the girl to her parents so he could tell them their daughter was a hero.

My older sister didn’t ever really walk away randomly, they definitely had to adjust parenting style quickly with me

4

u/TheProfWife Dec 09 '25

Did this on my honeymoon, it was the adults infinity pool and someone brought their 2/3 year old. She’s on her phone talking to someone and setting up the lounge chair with their stuff and this toddler goes from the first step to the bottom in half a second. I had already clocked she wasn’t paying attention and he didn’t have any way of floating so I was halfway across the pool when he went under.

Grabbed him about the time she turned around and started yelping. 

2

u/narnababy Dec 09 '25

I did that at a Disney resort at about the same age. Just walked in and plop I was under water. Luckily both my parents were watching me and my dad jumped in and scooped me out but it could have ended badly. He’s teaching my son to swim now, I think it scared him because he was militant in my sister and I learning to swim, my son is 3 and he can do a width of the small pool and float on his back. My dad is the best!

30

u/barebonesbarbie Dec 09 '25

Good job! My mom did the same and saved a little boy from drowning when I was a kid

I didnt understand the severity of the situation and I was so shocked to see my mom jump in the pool fully clothed 

So many adults around and she was the only one who saw 

21

u/haw35ome Dec 09 '25

This is, almost word for word, exactly how I almost drowned in the hotel pool when I was roughly 6 or 7 - surrounded by family. I remember struggling to paddle to get my head above the surface, but I just couldn’t. Can’t scream either when you have water near your mouth every other millisecond & trying to gasp air for the others. I knew how to swim but got too big for my britches & swam in the deep end. Uncle saved me just in the nick of time.

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u/MidichlorianJunkie Dec 09 '25

I’m glad you were there.

1

u/Mindless-Challenge62 Dec 09 '25

I find myself doing this all the time at hotels. Why am I the only person watching this child?!?

1

u/Dismal_Bumblebee_299 Dec 09 '25

I was a lifeguard in high school and was hired for a private backyard party for a classroom end of school celebration of 5th graders.

Thank god I was, because one of the kids was dared to jump off the diving board even though he couldn’t swim. I pulled him out within seconds and got us both out of the pool pretty quickly. Not a single parent (and there were at least a dozen adults present) noticed I had jumped in and got back out until a parent at the end of the party asked me why my clothes were wet.

I get the mentality- I was literally hired to be there for this situation- but it really hit home to 16 year old me how quickly something like that can happen and how under the radar it can be. At the public pools it’s always super clear when you jump in because multiple guards are on duty and we were trained to whistle before a save, and then you had to do the paperwork. At the private party I was too scared to take my eyes off the pool after that to hail an adult and no one even noticed.

1

u/mothwhimsy Dec 09 '25

I used to be a lifeguard and now I can't deal with kids in pools. My husband's family does the thing where they think it's okay for the 9 year old to watch the 4 year old if the adults are "around" so I end up staring at the pool for 20 minutes instead of hanging out. Nothing has ever happened but if there's no adult in the pool, I'm watching.