Updated August 3, 2026 at 2:14 PM EDT
One of the joys of summer is the water. But it comes with a warning.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the No. 1 cause of death in children ages 1 to 4 is drowning.
At the flagship, Disney-like Stew Leonard’s grocery store in Norwalk, Connecticut, shoppers are greeted by costumed characters and an animated, singing, life-vest-wearing duck named Stewie. He instructs little ones, “Don’t jump in ’til you learn to swim!”
Stewie the Duck is named after Stew and Kim Leonard’s 21-month-old son, who drowned in a pool in 1989 while surrounded by loving relatives. Their son would have been 39 this year.
“It never heals,” Stew Leonard said. “Maybe you get a little bit of a scar, but it never heals.”
Soon after their son died, the Leonards learned similar tragedies happen all too often. Now, they share lifesaving advice in a way that makes water safety fun.
In 1990, they founded the Stew Leonard III Children’s Charities. The foundation teaches water safety to toddlers through the “Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim” children’s book, which is getting praise from officials across the country, including at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the Rialto Fire Department in Rialto, California. More recently, the Leonards opened Stewie the Duck Swim Schools.
4 questions with Kim and Stew Leonard
Through the information you share, you’ve spared other families. Can you share what you learned?”
Kim Leonard: “It was our daughter Blake’s third birthday, and I was inside making the cake. Stew was right outside the sliding glass door hanging up balloons, and his brother, two sisters-in-law, two brothers-in-law, and cousins were all outside. I could see them through the window. But I never said to Stew, ‘I assume you’ve got them, right?’ As someone from the Red Cross said, ‘When everyone’s watching, no one’s watching.’ We never communicated, and that’s one thing to take away. Anyone who’s going to be with small children around water should always make sure you have a designated water watcher.”
Stew Leonard: “A verbal commitment. You know, what ends up happening is you had a little toddler in a stroller last year, and then this year, all of a sudden they’re about 2 years old, and they’re like little Spider-Men and Spider-Women. Where’d they go? But they love the water, and they don’t know how to swim. So what happened with our son was he went over to fetch a balloon out of the water. He just thought it was a big bathtub. He went in there, and unfortunately we had not taught him to swim.
“The one thing we talk about most importantly is teaching them to float on their back. Even Rowdy Gaines, the three-time Olympian who’s on our board, says they don’t have to be masters of freestyle or the butterfly. Just get them to float on their back.
“So really, what moms and dads out there need to do is two things: Have a water watcher, and second, give them swim lessons. Then, if they do happen to jump into the pool, like happened to our son, they can roll over onto their back and float. That’ll give you enough time to hopefully save them.”
Kim Leonard: “Like when your child is little and you’re teaching them not to go up to a hot oven, it’s important to talk about never going near the water without asking permission. Young parents say, ‘Oh, my child’s taking music lessons,’ or ‘My child’s doing karate,’ or ‘My child’s doing ballet.’ But swim lessons are the only lifesaving skill that should be number one on everyone’s list.”
“There was one firefighter at the National Drowning Prevention Conference who said, ‘I cannot pull up to one more house and pull a child out of the water.’”
Stew Leonard: “Even a pail of water that gets filled up by rain. They’re in the mountains out in California.”
Kim Leonard: “Yeah. But he got our books. He got a costume, and the Rialto Fire Department made a commitment to go speak to every kindergarten class and read the book. For more than 15 years, they have not had a drowning involving any child who has seen the book. So we know education works.”
Can you share more about what your foundation does?
Stew Leonard: “Well, Kim and I spent all our time talking, talking, talking about putting your cell phone down, having a water watcher, and how critically important that is. Three years ago, we decided to put our words into action, and we built a swim school. It’s a 501(c)(3) charity. We filled it with Red Cross-certified instructors, lifeguards and aquatics directors.
“Now, at our Norwalk, Connecticut, location, 1,000 kids a week are taking swim lessons. Then we opened a second location in Clifton, New Jersey, last year, and that’s another 1,000 kids a week.
“Since it’s a charity, we take all the profits and provide free swim lessons for less fortunate children — more than 60,000 free lessons every year. Thanks to many generous contributors, we’ve raised almost $10 million. I’d like to have 12 swim schools one day. That’s my goal.”
What is the impact of having Stewie the singing duck at the front of your stores?
Stew Leonard: “I just sang it for a little kids’ class the other day. (To the tune of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’)
‘Don’t jump in ’til you learn to swim.
Cover your chest with a safe life vest.
A grown-up must watch you in the pool.
You’ll be safe if you learn these rules.
Don’t jump in ’til you learn to swim.
Stewie the Duck wants you safe like him.’
“Hey, we’re promoting it as much as we can. It’s a passion for Kim and me right now. It’s something we wake up every day thinking about.
“I just got two phone calls, one from a family in Louisiana that just lost a 3-year-old to drowning. Those calls make your heart stop. It’s the worst tragedy you could ever imagine.
“The only thing I would say is worse is if you were a grandparent trying to watch your grandchildren, one of the siblings opened the pool gate — which you hear about all the time — and the little one ran out and drowned. As a grandparent, oh my gosh, I couldn’t imagine carrying that sense of guilt for the rest of your life.”
You’re thinking about saving children, but are you also thinking about your son who drowned?
Stew Leonard: “[Recently], I spent about an hour over at the swim school with delighted parents and happy little kids all learning to swim. Even on Father’s Day, I went down to the swim school. I just look up at the sky and have to say ‘thank you’ to Stewie. I know he’s not with us anymore, but look at all the families and young kids he’s been able to help.”
Kim Leonard: “Sharing our story can make a difference. I want to make a difference and hopefully prevent another family from having to go through this.”
Stew Leonard: “Yeah. I don’t think any of these safety measures — high pool fences, watches that alert you if they go underwater, or alarms you can put in a pool that detect ripples or waves — are bad ideas. There are all sorts of things like that.
“But the one thing I’ll always remember is when a couple of grandparents came up to me and said they were watching their grandchildren. The older sibling opened the pool gate, and the younger one, about 2½ years old, had been reading and singing our Stewie the Duck song about how grown-ups must watch you at the pool.
“The child turned around, came back to the grandparents, and said, ‘Stewie the Duck said I’m not allowed to swim without a grown-up watching me.’
“I think my brain just crashed when I heard that because it made Kim and me feel like what we’re doing — what our family is doing — has saved at least one life.”
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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Thomas Danielian produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Robin Young and Todd Mundt. Young also produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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