I used to read stories about near-drownings (or worse) every summer and think, "I'm so glad that didn't happen to me." Then it did.

I always watched my kids, so I thought I was safe. Then, last summer, I found my toddler unconscious at the bottom of a hot tub, and I realized just how quickly a child can drown.

I wanted to share this so other parents can learn from what happened to us.

This is our story.

On today.com, blogger Rachel Barton Lister shares the story of the awful day when she discovered her 2-year-old nearly drowned in a hot tub and a family birthday party, surrounded by adults. The story is hard to read, but it's the kind that we need to read again and again to remind ourselves of how easy it is for something like this to happen. As the article makes clear, drowning happens so quickly because it's so easy to miss. The mother writes about being so close, and yet having no idea that her daughter was in danger: "My daughter made no noise. She couldn't. She didn't splash. She didn't yell for help. We were all standing ten feet away while she drowned."  I've read articles on how drowning doesn't look like drowning, but it's important to realize how close you can be to a drowning victim without realizing that anything is wrong. In the case of children, the best protection truly is constant vigilance. One especially important takeaway from this particular article was how "safety in numbers" is just an illusion in these situations: "At the hospital they told us they see the worst case scenarios at family gatherings where there are plenty of people to supervise. Everyone thinks someone else is watching. Everyone thinks they can relax."  Thankfully, this story has a happy ending, but so many others don't. On Barton Lister's website, BusyMommyMedia, she shares 6 takeaways from her family's near-tragedy, which include:

1. Assign a water watcher
2. Life jackets stay on until you leave the pool
3. Accidents happen to good parents too
4. It's not just other people
5. Slow down
6. Make swimming lessons a priority

You read details on each item in "Lessons I Learned the Day my Daughter Almost Drowned" on BusyMommyMedia.    Drowning really is silent: What parents need to know this summer