Water Safety. Parent Taught ISR (Infant Self Rescue) or Class?

I have not paid for infant self rescue for either of my children, no. The best thing you can do is to get them very comfortable in the water, and then teach them to jump into the pool, then come to the surface and back float. Also you need to teach them how to move hand-over-hand along the edge of the pool to get themselves to the pool stairs and get out of the pool. Really teaching them not to panic if they fall in, and to get into a backfloat is what will save them. (By the way, I was a lifeguard all through high school and college, and taught swimming lessons at the mommy and me level, and up through the basic swimming levels, so I've taught a LOT of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers these skills! And none of them paid me THAT kind of money to do it, either!)

Even if your child has these skills, though, they will still drown if they hit their heads on the way in, so watching them like a hawk and having a secure pool fence with a self-closing and locked gate is the only way to go.

Whether or not you teach your child, your primary responsibility as a parent is to keep watch of your children at all times. Do not turn your back on your child around water.

I self taught my babies. They learned to roll over and float by 3 mos old, it's a really cool thing and gives you some peace of mind just in case.

Thanks for the info! I had no idea there even was such a class.

My son just turned 1, and with summer coming and a pool at grandma's house, I will definitely be looking into this further!

thanks!

CLAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You could very well teach them wrong or it could be very dangerous! There was a news story on it and of course the recommended the class and it should not be self taught. Normally I will try and do a lot of things by myself, but when it comes to SAFETY I will not skimp on that. I'm a single mom and $130 a week is a TON of money for me, but I see it as a future investment since a funeral usually costs $7,000.

My best friend is a trained ISR instructor.

We did these classes with all 3 of our kids. It is expensive...but we felt it was worth it.

It is an amazing program...has saved many lives.

The instructor gets you in the water and teaches you how to continue "practicing" the sensory hand movements with your child after your series of sessions are over.

There are instructors all over the country...I recommend it highly!

Jane....it is expensive but worth every single dime you will spend. My daughter is almost 13 and we did this for her three days before her third birthday. As you may already know, each lesson is only 10 minutes a day. My daughter had her first, then her second lesson and by the beginning of her third lesson she was swimming. So, in less than 30 minutes she was doing it. The rolling did take several more days but it came very easily too. In all, she only needed four weeks before she had her "final" test which was being put into the pool fully clothed and turned here and there to sort of disorient her a little, she passed with flying colors. Now, all that being said, this program is not for the parents that are weak of heart. The first day for the kids is usually ok, it's the second day that can produce extreme anxiety because the kid knows that when they get in that water, they are going under. My daughter's instructor was very patient with her but she made it clear that the screams were not going to keep her from going under :-)