Granger Smith and his wife, Amber, are trying to help other families avoid tragedy by speaking out about the importance of child water safety to prevent youths from drowning.
In June, the couple was met with tragedy when their 3-year-old son, River, died in an accidental drowning incident in the pool at their family home in Texas. In a recent episode of their YouTube series “The Smiths,” the couple prepared for their first televised interview since the incident. The video shows some behind-the-scenes footage of a yet-to-be-released segment for the “Today” show.
“I’ve been thinking so much about it,” Amber begins the video. “Couldn’t really sleep last night. Not for fear of anything, I just think it’s such a big deal that hopefully we’re going to be able to share our story and help other people. So I just want to make sure that we say what needs to be said and not forget anything and speak what’s in our heart.”
Later in the video, she notes that she’s worried she’ll forget to share one of the many tips they’ve learned since exploring childhood drowning following their tragedy. So she begins to list everything she wants to share with other families.
“If you have a pool, make sure you install a four-sided, four-foot child lock fence. Even we know in our family that’s not enough,” she said. “If you have that fence, make sure it has a child lock, get a second lock, maybe a bike lock around it…”
She added: “And just love your kids. Love your kids, be present with your kids, spend time with them as much as you can. Because, as we know, we’re never promised tomorrow. With as much control as we think we have, we just don’t.”
The country singer also appeared in the video, speaking directly to the camera about why the couple chose now to share what they’ve learned.
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“I wanted to wait about a year before we did it,” Granger explains. “Amber felt strongly that we needed to do it now because – spring break – and there’s going to be a lot of little swimmers.”
Granger and Amber Smith spoke about what they’ve learned about child safety after losing their 3-year-old son in 2019.
(Rick Kern/Getty Images)
He continued: “The idea is, if we could send a message from what we’ve learned through our darkest days, through our worst pain, through our worst tragedy, if we could send a message of what we’ve learned, not only in our recovery process with grief, but in swimming and child drowning, the number one cause of death of children, if we could spread that message, and one person hears us… If one life is saved, if one more toddler gets to live, if that statistic can be changed at all just for one family, then that provides me and Amber with a little bit of meaning, a little bit of purpose through the darkest times.”
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He concluded with a message about not simply writing off the concept of child drowning as something that can be solved through mere supervision. He noted that anyone who thinks that is “highly, highly overestimating the human species.”
