Spencer Robertson is taking care of his star employees.
"Lifeguards are 100 percent critical to everything we do at the YMCA," he said.
He manages 55 lifeguards who, in turn, watch up to 600 people in this pool every day.
Even with four lifeguards watching the kiddie pool, inexperienced swimmers still have to wear life jackets.
"They couldn't pass our swim test, so we want to make sure they're safe in the pool at all times," Robertson said.
Water safety for children is a larger issue than you might think.
"Drowning is the number one cause of accidental death for children under the age of 5, and it’s a leading cause for ages 1 to 14," said Alissa Magrum of Colin's Hope, a nonprofit that raises water safety awareness.
Sixteen children under 5 have drowned in Texas this year.
"Anything from a backyard pool to a community pool to a lake to a river, to an ocean. Water. It's inherently dangerous," Magnum said.
Magrum preaches to parents that drowning can happen before you even realize it's happening.
"You may not see a struggle and you may not hear a struggle," she said. "That's something we try and tell people is, nobody is drown-proof, and it's fast and silent."
The CDC says swimming lessons can decrease the chance of drowning by 88 percent.
Magnum says accidents can happen even under the best of circumstances.
"It's not fair to go to lifeguarded pools and expect that the lifeguards can manage that for everyone. It's not. It's a hard job," she said.
While parents' job is to watch their kids, the kids' job is to enjoy summer.
If you'd like to learn more about water safety, you can take a quiz at the Colin's Hope website here.