ISR Swimming Lessons
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ISR stands for Infant Swimming Resource. It is a swimming lesson method to teach infants and young kids 6 months and older to float if they fall into the water. I saw a friend do this with her kids and was dead set on getting Emma water safe from an early age. SO we looked into it and got her started at 8 months old. We then followed up with more classes when she was 2.5 and actually hosted those ones. It was interesting to watch the other kids and how each reacted differently to the lessons. One consistent thing was that they all learned to float or swim depending on the age. This method is awesome!
The certified instructor we have in our area is so patient and sweet with the kids. Her class sessions run for 6 weeks for 10 minutes every weekday, so it was a commitment, but well worth it. I had heard that for new mommas it is especially hard because it is expected that your baby will cry the whole session. It was hard at first because your momma bear in you wants to come out and protect them, but them the instructor explained it in this way that made it easier…”If your baby actually fell into the pool on accident, wouldn’t you want her to turn over and float and also cry so you could be alerted to get them? You wouldn’t want them to just float silently!” Hearing this made all the difference and honestly I didn’t see any negatives in her attitude toward water and swimming from learning these lessons. They weren’t traumatic to her.
Emma was floating on her own by the second week and her cries became more of a simple whine. By the time we left the class after 5 weeks she was able to roll over to her back and float unassisted with full clothes and shoes on. It was quite incredible seeing a little baby just float there on their own. After her classes we would get in the water every couple weeks and reinforce the float so she wouldn’t forget and had plans to go back the following summer, but some life things got in the way. That next summer she was so fearless with the water and hated her floaties, so we ended up going back for classes when she was 2.5 years old to finish learning to swim.
We hosted the same teacher at our pool for 2 hours each day for 6 weeks during the summer and it was neat to watch the different ages and levels of kids go through the ISR lessons. The infants cried at first like Emma had, some toddlers still were hesitant with water, some of the older ones were learning to take breaths, but all of them got in no problem and all of them were water safe by the end of the summer. Emma of course jumped right in and actually we had her learn jumping from an elevated ledge and roll into her float for a breath before she swam to the side. This is her favorite thing to do in our poo and it was nice to know she could now get to the side safely on her own. This was also the summer she wanted to be a mermaid so she wore her mermaid bathing suit almost every lesson and the kids started calling her ariel…it was funny.
I highly recommend ISR for babies and kids if you can find the time commitment. I can now sit and watch her enjoy the water with no floaties and it is soooo nice!
