Baby Otter Swim Lessons
I finally made the call.
In addition to the horrible statistics:
• Drowning is the #1 cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 in Florida.
• 75% of victims are ages 12 to 25 months old.
• 65% drown in the family pool.
• 33% drown in a neighbors’ or relatives’ pool.
• For every child that drowns, 4 are hospitalized for near drowning.
• 77% were missing less than 5 minutes.
I just want my baby to know how to save himself if he falls in the pool……and I want him to enjoy the water as much as I did as a kid. We live in Florida. That is what kids do here. They spend their days in the pools and at the beach.
Jax will be 2 in a month and we have taken him in our pool quite frequently, but we are not qualified to teach him survival skills. Lately he has gotten extremely bold and goes onto our first and second pool step by himself. He also thinks it’s funny to run around the pool. I am terrified of this. Not that he will ever be outside alone, but that isn’t the point. So, I am waiting to hear back from the Baby Otter Swim School so we can schedule his lessons.
We will start with Turn, Kick, Reach:
Turn, Kick, Reach is a five consecutive day program taught to children, as young as ten months, what to do if they fell into the water. They learn to hold their breath and put their face in the water; swim to the steps and wall by kicking and MOST IMPORTANT, to turn around and swim back to where they fell into the water.
Hopefully he will graduate after the 5 days and we can continue on to the next program:
TKR Post-Grad is a small group of children who have graduated from our Turn, Kick, Reach program. We extend the skills they learned in TKR, making them familiar with all parts of the pool. (The skills they learned in TKR are reinforced and expanded to include extending their distance swimming, learning to swim from person to person, and learning how to swim from steps to wall, and wall to steps.) TKR is a prerequisite for this class. This class meets one day per week for eight weeks.
I will update day by day once we get started.
Summer here we come!!!
Can't wait to hear all about it!
I never learned how to swim. I taught myself how to float when I was about 8 at the local beach, using the shallowest part of the water. I can doggy paddle I gues sit is but that is only well enough to not drown. DH is a good swimmer and has offered to teahc me but when he does try to, it doersn't work well for us. I looked into swimming classes a couple of times and literally i was the oldest person by a solid 10-12 years. Not fun!
Looking forward to hearing about Jax's progress!!
Again, he did really well. They actually let him go and he "swam" by himself to the steps. It was crazy to watch. Basically he floated with some slight kicking of his legs, while holding his breath. Pretty cool. He still cried the whole time and it was hard to watch, but I am so glad we're doing this. I am hoping his confidence improves and his fear decreases by the end of these lessons.
Today was canceled due to bad weather. Ugh! I hope the disruption in classes doesn't mess it up.
So today was Day 3. Jax swam to the side of the pool and grabbed onto the side and held on for 10 seconds. I got in with him so I could learn how to help him practice. It's crazy to see your baby completely under the water and not holding him. I swear I was on eggshells....
I am supposed to practice with him in the pool this afternoon and every day this weekend until we finish up on Monday. I would like to continue to practice with him all summer so that he can really learn to swim.
I have to find out how much another class is b/c I'd really love to keep this up. I was talking to a mom there today whose daughter is 3 and is a very good swimmer. She loves it. She jumps of the side and from a low diving board and swims across an olympic sized pool, front and back stroke. It's amazing. The girl is on her 4th set of lessons..... but I am impressed!!!
Swimming lessons would be quite interesting though. As a kid I hated water and I don't want my 2 too feel scared of it like I did.
I am currently thinking of putting Sophie in for karate classes or something. Do you think she's too young? I just want her to learn self-defence etc but feel I may be a bit pushy starting her already. We would probably wait a good few months first, but it's still up in the air.
Anyway sounds like Jax enjoyed himself! It's definately a good idea to get him involved in this. Did mommy enjoy it too?
As far as the Karate lessons, I think that is great. My husband is into Martial Arts and has done them on and off since childhood. We plan to send Jax to a Judo class (or something) when he is old enough. I think they might be a bit too young yet. Maybe 3??? Not quite sure.
He swam to the side of the pool, but for some reason was using his arms today and it messed him up. He was sinking instead of laying there kicking. It was very scary for me to watch.....and he still cried the whole time.
Honestly, he doesn't like his instructor (I'm not too fond of her either). There is a man there that has helped with his lessons and J loves him....but it's not the person doing his lessons. The woman who does his lessons keeps passing him off to the guy whenever she can and personally I think it's distracting J and making him not trust her and deflecting from his lessons. I tried to say something, but she doesn't take it seriously. Needless to say, I'm not very happy with her. We get there and she is always either STILL finishing up her last lesson or chatting with some of the other moms or just sitting there eating. She makes us wait EVERY f'n time AND I think she speeds up J's lesson. She's lazy. UGH!!! Sorry rant over.
Wow, a 3 year old who can do all that? N has never even been in a "real" pool. We have a little inflatable one for our back yard, and she likes it but has never had to hold her breath. We'd like to take her to a public pool this summer. Also, my SIL is a swim coach and lifeguard, so I'm hoping we might be able to have her help teach N to swim or at least recommend timing, classes, etc.
That really sucks that the instructor isn't doing her job! I'd be really angry because I'm sure private lessons aren't cheap! I'd definitely be finding someone else for any other lessons Jax moves on to. That's too bad that he cries the whole time. Do you think it's because you're not in the water with him?
I took him in our pool this morning to practice. I definitely think the more practice, the better. Guess what - he still cried. I think he just hates having his face under water. I'm sure it's scary for him. But, he did ok and we will keep practicing!!
Today was Day 5 of the lessons..the last day. Jax graduated!!! Yay! My boy can turn, kick, and reach. I had to actually throw him in the pool. It was a bit crazy, but amazing to see him plop in, turn his little body and get to the side to save himself!!!
We have lots of practice in store for us. I have to make it a point to go in with him every day at least for the next few weeks so he doesn't forget.
YAY Jax!!!!
The funny thing is that now he isn't all gung-ho about going in the pool when we ask him. I guess that is a good thing b/c he would want to jump in there himself before. He had absolutely no fear. I think now he is at least a little bit cautious of the water. Makes things a lot easier for us!
My dad said when my brother and I were kids we cried through our entire swim lesson experience as well, but we ended up being fish. I mean, we pretty much lived in the water!! I hope my son ends up enjoying swimming as much as I did. We just have to keep on practicing.
He thought it was really cool that I could blow bubbles in the water. He would giggle and grin and stare at my lips...but then he put his face in to try it and got water up his nose!
I guess I should start with getting him to hold his breath instead of trying to blow bubbles...
Jana ~ By the 4th or so time of going to the pool, it was like nothing to J ... so I bet a few more times and A will be the same way. Its like the playground after a few times it was like she had been going down slides her whole life lol.
My main dislike is the prep time with sunscreen, etc lol.
BTW, does class make jax sleepy? sheesh, my boy was worn out by the time we got home... he took 2 naps over 2 hours each yesterday!!! He also ate like a little hog!!
Sounds like I need to get DS in the pool. He's finally getting over his water issues, so I don't want to push it yet. I'm really looking forward to swimming with him though
Great job!!!
Here is a picture of J before his swim lesson....