Infant Rescue Classes: Teaching Babies How To Swim

Check out this amazing program that teaches infants and very young children life saving skills that will allow them to survive if they fall into water. My best friend Kerry shares her story – and this AMAZING video of her little girl Sophia floating and swimming. Sophia is just over 1 years old – notice she is wearing clothing and shoes to make her life saving water skills even more realistic for those that a toddler will face. This program is incredible and I wish my own children had done something like it when they were babies . Spread the word about this program if you have friends or relatives with a baby who would benefit from Infant Rescue Swimming Lessons.

 Infant Rescue Classes: Teaching Babies How to Swim 

It’s summertime, and like many families, we were looking forward to lots of fun water activities to keep us cool!  However, as I thought about all of this fun in the sun, I kept on having anxiety about my 2 children, ages 3 and 1.5 yrs, being safe around water.  I had read all of the scary statistics about how drowning is leading cause of accidental death in children under the age of 5.  And my kids seemed, to me, to be a dangerous combination: a toddler who is very adept at unlocking and opening doors, and a baby who is mobile and loves water.

I had seen a program on teaching babies to swim, and while it looked awesome, I was a bit skeptical.  But I was excited when I learned that a local athletic club offered this nationally accredited program, so I got additional information and decided to give it a try in an effort to sleep a little better at night.

We finished up our 6 week course of Infant Swimming Resource lessons, or ISR as it is nationally known http://www.infantswim.com/, at the Hockessin Athletic Club http://www.hachealthclub.com/pages/aquatics/isr.html, and I couldn’t be happier with the results!  Both of my young children have learned life-saving skills which would allow them to survive if they fell into water.  It was a big investment of time, energy, and money, but it was definitely worth it.

The 4 to 6 week program requires lessons 5 days a week, and each lesson lasts roughly 5-10 minutes.  That might seem like a whole lot of effort for a short lesson, but if you have recently spent much time with a toddler, you know their attention span doesn’t last long!  Really, the point is to keep the lessons short so the child doesn’t get worn out, and doing it so frequently in short lessons ingrains the behavior so that it is reflexive.

The video attached is my daughter, Sophia, who is 16 months old, demonstrating her amazing swimming skills!  The last week of lessons includes exercises where the child wears their clothes, a regular diaper, and shoes to truly imitate what a fall into a pool might feel like.  What a great idea, right?

The instructors at the Hockessin Athletic Club were wonderful, and since it is the only club anywhere in the area which offers this nationally accredited program, parents drive their children from all over the Delaware Valley to take these lessons.  Luckily they have a number of instructors certified, so we had no problem getting a time that worked well with our nap schedules.  And if you aren’t in the Philadelphia/Delaware region, you can check the ISR national website to hopefully find instructors near you.

ISR boasts of over 800 children who have survived thanks to the skills they learned in this program. While no child is ever “drown proof”, I can sleep a little better knowing my children have learned skills to allow them to survive a fall into water.  Every second counts!

https://www.facebook.com/InfantSwimatHAC

1 thought on “Infant Rescue Classes: Teaching Babies How To Swim”

  1. In Arizona during the summer, many days the temperature can get over 110 degrees. So many people here have swimming pools. Kids drowning in pools is like an epidemic in Southern Arizona. I learned how to swim at age 4 after I fell out of a inner tube and nearly drown. I have a 28 year old cousin in Philadelphia that does not know how to swim.

Leave a Comment