A Father Warns Parents About Toy Mermaid Tails After His Daughter Nearly Dies

A New Jersey father named Adam Lisberg is taking to social media to warn parents about the potential dangers of toy mermaid tails. The swimming accessory may be popular, but he says his daughter nearly drowned while wearing hers, according to Today.

Lisberg has two daughters, 5-year-old Annabelle and 7-year-old Ruby. On Sunday, June 28, both of the little girls had mermaid tails on while swimming in a small kiddie pool that was only a few feet deep. While most of the time Lisberg or his wife would stand by and watch the children closely as they swam, he also has a 5-year-old son in need of supervision.

Lisberg said he briefly left the girls alone in the pool in order to supervise his son, who was in the kitchen. He said that he could still keep watch on both of the girls from the kitchen window. However, only minutes after he had left them, his older daughter arrived inside and told him that her sister, Annabelle, was no longer moving.

“I’m thinking, ‘This is not how it’s supposed to end. It’s a wonderful, happy Sunday afternoon, the girls are having so much fun in the pool, it’s not supposed to end like this.’ But when I got over to her, her eyes were wide, she wasn’t moving, and at first I really thought she was dead,” he recalled of the horrifying incident.

When Lisberg found his daughter, he noticed that her arms had become stuck in the mermaid tail. He used CPR to help keep Annabelle alive until the paramedics arrived, and she was rushed to the hospital. The little girl stayed in the hospital for two days, where it was determined that she had water in her lungs which caused her to struggle to breathe.

Fortunately, Annabelle will recover — but her father wants other parents to be informed about the possible dangers these toy mermaid tails can yield, even in a very shallow pool. Lisberg noted that even though the tails are cute and fun for children, they can potentially be dangerous.

“I’m hoping that the parents who see this are scared… I want people to know that these mermaid tail swimsuits can kill,” he said.

Tragically, accidental drownings involving children are fairly common. Country music singer Granger Smith and his wife, Amber, recently opened up about losing their own son, River, to a drowning accident a little over a year ago, as The Inquisitr previously reported.