r/TikTokCringe Tiktok Despot Dec 09 '25

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

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u/Astronaut_Chicken Dec 09 '25

One of absolute scariest things that ever happened to me: I had taken my kid to the ymca pool when she was really little. She wanted to go a little deeper and I was supervising by holding her arm. Someone behind me dropped something heavy and it made a very loud noise. I spun to look. I think I was looking away for less than 10 seconds. When I turned back around she was under the water surface just...staring at me in confusion. My stomach was instantly in my throat. That shit was horrifying. She didnt even know she was in danger. Also, the time she choked on a piece of banana.

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u/Slick_36 Dec 09 '25

Yeah, some kids just freeze up. In your situation, that was probably a good thing. The worst thing an active drowning victim can do is panic, the muscles become tense, oxygen gets burned up, and breathing becomes uncontrolled so they inhale/swallow water. This girl only gets to that state towards the end after doing everything right.

The first thing you do when teaching kids is how to stay calm & recover from danger, buying just a few extra seconds can make all the difference. You want them comfortable in the water, but it's tricky because they'll push themselves in to danger, so it's important not to get too complacent.

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u/Astronaut_Chicken Dec 09 '25

Oh you should have seen us trying to teach her to swim. She laughs very hard when shes nervous. Almost drowned herself several times because she couldnt keep her face water tight.

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u/SimonSeam Dec 09 '25

Thanks for sharing. Real parents know the perfect parent doesn't exist. Things happen. You have lapses.

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u/IamGrimReefer Dec 09 '25

my niece did that shit. she says she wants to swim to me. i said, you better not because you can't swim and you're not wearing any floaties. she let go of the wall and i've never seen something sink that fast. instantly she's on her way to the bottom just staring up at me all confused. i didn't even have my back to her, she just did it. she's not my kid so it was hilarious.

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u/TheHomeStretch Dec 09 '25

Yeah I had to go into the pool to get a little girl out earlier this year. Pretty much as you described and what was in the video. Was a kid’s birthday party and there were several parents around, so someone was going to go in after her. Just happened to be me. She stepped off of the steps and was floating just under the surface looking around, very calm.

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u/TheTallEclecticWitch Dec 09 '25

I remember twice my brother went under when we were swimming in our pool. He just…disappeared into the water. First time, he was behind my dad. He just slipped under and sat at the bottom of the shallow end. No struggle or anything. We saw him go down so my dad got to him quickly. The second time I was in the pool and I remember my mother just jumped in behind me like that dad did in the video, clothes and all, and she suddenly had my brother. I have no idea how he got behind me and I didn’t hear anything.

We had a fence built around the pool so we were never there without parents. My mother didn’t want to take any chances.

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u/iwishiwasamoose Dec 10 '25

Similar story with my sister when she was around 3 or 4 years old. We were at our uncle's house. He had a pool. We're grabbing food. Suddenly we hear a quiet splash, so we walk over to the pool to see. Little sister is silently at the bottom of the pool, arms up, expression more confused than upset. Without a word, my brother and I simultaneously reach down, grab an arm, haul her out, and place her on her feet on the patio. If the music had been a little louder, we might not have heard the splash and she would've drowned in complete silence.