Parenting Sites 411

When you have small children, you need to be on extra alert when around swimming pools. If you have a pool of your own or your parents have one at their house, learning water safety becomes a number one priority. My ever-vigilant husband alerted me to this website (and it’s startling accompanying videos) yesterday and I knew right off I had to share it with you all. It’s called the Infant Swimming Resource. This is a nationally recognized program that offers a highly specialized and certified instruction for children as young as 6 months old. You might be wondering: What can you teach a 6 month old about water safety? You’d be surprised. Even though non-verbal, infants can be taught techniques to use if they should ever fall into the water. The most impressive being how to maneuver themselves into their back so they float to the surface. There, they can breathe and cry for help until help does arrive. Just watch the video below yourself to see this in action. I was completely floored by it. The instructors not only teach your children, but teach you as well so that you are equipped with how to keep your children safe.

This is a fantastic resource for anyone who has children and a pool. My parents have a pool in their backyard and I always worry when we go to visit. We never let the children play around the pool if we’re not standing outside with them, but you never know what could happen. When I was a baby, my parents realized the importance of teaching me how to swim early in case I fell in the pool. They hired a swim instructor to come to our house and teach me and several other neighbor kids how to swim. I was a mere 18 months old and it wasn’t long before I was swimming like a fish. Those skills served me well, growing up with a swimming pool. So I know small children and babies can be taught how to survive in the water. I only wish we had a swim instructor with ISR in our area that we could take advantage of.