"Even the most loving parents can't watch their kids 24 hours a day," he acknowledged last week.

Which is why he's doing everything he can to educate children - as well as their parents - about safety in and around the pool.

Laurie's 'Kids Alive Do the Five' show was in Ulladulla last week as part of a regional tour with singing and dancing characters used to deliver five key message to those people watching: fence the pool; shut the gate; teach your kids to swim, it's grate; supervise, watch your mate; and learn how to resusitate.

Mr Lawrence is confident the show - combined with a new DVD to be distributed to all new mothers thanks to Federal Government funding - will help drive drowning statistics down.

While the number of children drowning in backyard swimming pools has fallen in recent years, the number is still frightfully high.

According to the 2009 National Drowning Report, 11 per cent of the 302 people who drowned in Australia in 2009/09 were children under the age of four.

Sixty per cent of those drownings were in swimming pools.

Mr Lawrence said complacency was a major issue with swimming pools.

He said beaches were more dangerous but drownings were relatively uncommon because parents tended to be far more vigilant.

Mr Lawrence is a firm believer in introducing a child to water as early as possible - suggesting that babies have water poured over their heads as soon as they're born.

He said water play should be fun and not forced and that children be given the chance to experiment in shallow water.

He said kids given the opportunity to explore tended to get very confident in the water very quickly.

Meanwhile Royal Life Saving is urging all pool owners to check their pools this weekend to ensure the gates are working properly and that fencing is not loose or unsafe.

* More information is available over the internet at www.kidsalive.com