Watch This Baby!

[Teresa]

Watch This Baby!!

http://www.childdrowningprevention.com/index.html

This made me so nervous I could hardly watch it..
But I did..and I am glad I watched it clear to the end..
( Even though I was hollering out loud.." Someone Get THAT baby!" )

[Ole Granny]

I was ready to jump in.  Could hardly stand it, even though I knew what it was.  My daughters all were and are great swimmers and on swim teams and one was a swim coach for several years.  The importance of water knowledge certainly is visualized in this video.

[Roma Jean Turner]

I'm sitting her with tears in my eyes and slight angina pain.    A friend of mine took her toddler to one
of those swimming classes where they put them in the water and keep moving away and forcing the child
to swim........anyway, she said it was the hardest thing she had ever done.  When they finally let her pick him
up, he had big tears rolling down and cheeks, looked her straight in the eye and said, "Bad Mommie".  She said
I will never forget that as long as I live.

[Diane Amberg]

I think "drownproofing" kids is great, but it's no substitue for adult supervision. Here we absolutely cannot have a pool that is accessable directly from the house. We have more problems with flood engorged creeks and drainage ditches, retention ponds, flooded quarries, kids jumping off bridges and drunk teenagers goofing around.

[giester2]

I was a Water Baby !   


It was a 2 week course... I was 12 months old  (1976)

To graduate my mom had to drop me off the end of a diving board 

and I had to swim to the side of the pool.

[Mom70x7]

So, I'm curious . . . do you think it was good?

Do you have a memory of growing up not being afraid of water?
Did you grow up swimming and wondering why everyone else wasn't?

Would you recommend it to parents of infants and toddlers?

      

[Ole Granny]

Good questions!  My dad learned to swim by being thrown into the creek.  Anyway that was the story.  He was a very strong swimmer and loved it.

[Teresa]

Both my boys were "water babies" but I didn't do it like the video.
The boys didn't know to roll over on their backs , but they could bob to the top and dog paddle to the side at 2 yrs old. Danny was snorkeling with Mark when he was 4.
When they were 6 months old  they could..at that age, hold their breath if they went under,
but at that age, they would have drowned if they had been alone.
What I did with Danny and Derek, and I also did it with Ashley when she was 10 months old was laugh and play with them out in the lake and then blow in their nose ( which made them catch and hold their breath and  real fast go under the water with them and come back up laughing and acting like it was such fun etc..
They would look wild eyed for a bit and then break out in a smile...You have to time the blowing and the going under and make it fast, so they don't catch their breath while you are going under.. But it water proofed our kids. They were both swimming by the age of 3 and water skiing by themselves at the age of 5.
I had to do it that way.. we were at the lake every single weekend, and I couldn't take a chance on them falling over the boat and not be able to dog paddle to the side of the boat or at least pop to the top so we could get them.

They are excellent swimmers as Mark and I are.. and Derek has already used the blowing in the nose technique on Mason this year and he did great with it. And Ashley is swimming like a little fish.
My daddy taught me to swim  as he was swimming and I was on his  back and then he just slid out from under me and was right there as I learned.

[emptynest]

I have taught this the few times we have enough interest in Infant - Toddler classes.  Parents must attend and be in the water with their child and it helps if they have played in the water with their baby beforehand.  Too often, the parents and/or child aren't water acclimated and you spend the 20-30 minutes waiting for the fear to subside.  But we use the kick, roll over on your back method when we have instructed parents and their babies. We also, in levels II and III, still instruct those swimmers to roll from the tummy to the back and position their arms out to the side or above their head to distribute their body weight to support a back float.  So many children, especially boys, have difficulty on their backs because of the weight distribution of their muscles. But, again, it is no substitute for adult supervision, but to me it's the same as preparing your children for a fire or tornado drill.  You never know when an emergency will arise and the training might be necessary.

[dandymomma]

I could not stand the "5 minutes later" text. I'm screaming inside my head, 'pick up that baby, dumb-sh**!!!' You knew he was trying to get Daddy's attention too. That smile at the end made it all better though.

My dad tried to teach me to swim by throwing me in a lake. I hate to swim. I DO NOT put my face under water. Even when I'm in the shower, I squint my eyes shut tight and take a deep breath before rinsing the soap of my face. I love to be near the water, and to wade in the water, soak, and so forth, but when everyone else was doing cannon balls, I was sitting on the side dangling my feet. I have no idea if that has any thing to do with being thrown in the water, but my son is the same way. He hates water in his face, and only goes in the water on his terms. Last summer my husband threw him in the pool too. Natalie seems to fine though. She just doesn't like the feel of water in her ears. Makes you think....