BATON ROUGE — Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 5 to 14, according to the CDC, with the Louisiana Department of Health saying that one of the best ways to prevent drowning is to teach your child how to swim. 

Autumn Percival, an instructor at Fishys Aquatics swim school in Gonzales, shared with WBRZ the most common swim safety mistakes families make this time of year. 

"This time of year, people start to get really comfortable in their child's swimming ability," Percival said. "It's really important you continue to reinstate those rules and instructions around the pool because anything can happen regardless of the child's age or ability to swim."

Percival said that children should never enter the water without an adult's permission and explained the difference between watching children and supervising them.

"Watching could be impaired, under the influence or drinking," she said. "But making sure you're truly supervising is being attentive to what's going on and making sure that the child is aware that you're watching them. Making sure that you're aware of your surroundings and how to safely handle a situation if it does escalate."

Floaties and inflatable toys can also create a false sense of security for families around the water. 

"Those puddle jumpers, they're very cute, they're very fun," Percival said. "But they're not effective, and they're definitely dangerous. They can flip, they can fall off, they can slip. It's very important that the child learns how to properly swim first."

She advised that a proper life jacket is the only good safety tool for young swimmers.

As pools open up for the summer, Percival said it's important for adults to make sure that they're always fully paying attention to children in the water.

"Making sure ... that there's always an adult with eyes on them, even if just for a second. It only takes a second for something to happen and for a child to drown."

She also shared that it's important to never swim alone.

"Even in my older age ... I never swim alone. I always swim with a parent, sibling or someone that's watching me and knows that I'm swimming."

Fishys Aquatics, a family-owned business, teaches swimming lessons to people as young as 6 months old to as old as 65 years old.