Well it is that time of year again, when temperatures rise to the high 90's and at times even the 100's, and you soon find the only way to seek refuge is to either stay inside (no fun when you have small children) or hit your local watering holes (no not the bars). When speaking of local watering holes, remember I am a mommy now and have limited opportunities to visit bars, what I am referring to are pools, beaches, lakes, etc. So in attempts to beat the heat that comes along with Florida summers, Chickpea and I have been visiting the pool almost every day.
The thing I noticed since visiting the pool, and taking Chickpea to the beach, is that my girl has no fear. In fact she is a dare-devil in every sense of the word. This got me thinking if it was time for me to get Chickpea enrolled in some formal swim lessons. Now understand I use the word formal only because my swim lessons where anything but. In fact my swim lessons basically involved my dad picking me up and walking down a wooden dock at my grandmother’s home, past my mother who sat wondering what he was about to do, only to her horror as she watched my dad toss me into the water. My mother still tells this story the best, but as she watched my father do the unspeakable, she yelled, "What are you doing?" My dad only replied, "Trust me she is fine, she is either going to sink or swim." I am glad to know that my dad had that much confidence in me that day, or maybe he just had one too many adult beverages that afternoon, but to my mother's shock I rose to the surface with bulging eyes and swam. Who would have thought I would have gone on to become a competitive swimmer through my high school years. Understanding that my father's actions almost led to my mother divorcing him, I figured I would go the more traditional route with Chickpea's swim lessons.
I started to do some research to find out what would be the best fit for Chickpea. While doing my research I came across some interesting facts:
-It was not until May 2010 that Pediatricians recommended swim lessons for children under the age of 4
-It only takes 20 seconds for a child to drown
-Children under five and adolescents between the ages of 15-24 have the highest drowning rates.
-Of all preschoolers who drown, 70 percent are in the care of one or both parents at the time of the drowning and 75 percent are missing from sight for five minutes or less.
Needless to say these are all things that validate investing in swim lessons for your young child. My husband and I finally decided on a swim program called ISR, which stands for Infant Swimming Resource and can be found at www.infantswim.com. This is a unique program that involves 1 to 1 sessions for 10minutes a day, 5 days a week, for up to 5 weeks. Without saying this program requires a tremendous commitment of your time and resources, these lessons are not cheap, but are worth every cent when your child develops the skill to float/ swim to safety if they where to fall into a body of water.
I have to admit that prior to doing my research, and watching Chickpea go through the ISR program, I would joke with other moms and call it "supervised drowning". With all joking aside it is tough to watch your child go through these lessons at first, but with each lesson I saw Chickpea become more calm and confident as she demonstrated the skills that where being taught to her, and reassured me that my husband and we made the right decision. So thank you to Mr. Rusty for enduring endless crying, and at times being puked on, it is because of you that Chickpea has a developed a strong foundation as she will continue with swim lessons each summer. And maybe, just maybe become a competitive swimmer just like her mommy.
