Hellobee Boards

Following. I just emailed the only ISR teacher in my city- seriously considering for my 7 month old.

I will add, the program is fairly expensive and very time intensive (for the 4-6 weeks, you go every week day for 10 minutes. You record everything your child eats and does (if they are under 3) and there are some dietary restrictions. Neither of my boys were "happy" to be in the water at first. My 1 yo likes the water, but not the actual floating (I'm ok with that...if he falls in, I'd want him screaming as loud as he can). My 3.5 yo is now very comfortable and a little fish.

I've had 5 other friends put their kiddos through the program too, and everyone raves about it. We all used the same instructor, and I assume there is some variability, but I have faith in the program.

If we had a pool I would have done it!

My friend has a pool so they did it for their twins - the instructor came to their house and did the lessons - besides lessons they were in the pool every day - both were swimming very well by age 2! I was impressed!

We have a pool and did ISR for both LOs. We started with LO1 3 years ago, LO2 started last year, and they both did refreshers this year.

Its an excellent program and I highly recommend it. It is an investment (time and money), but well worth the peace of mind - especially if you have a pool.

If you don't have a pool, I don't think its necessary (unless your kids are near a pool a lot).

We have done a swim class that is not as intensive as ISR but we don't have a pool. If we had a pool I think that we would have gone with ISR. I have read that some people have had concerns with the level of intensity of ISR, but I think it's worth it if you own a pool or your kids have access to a pool regularly.

We thought about it but eventually decided against it. It's super expensive and difficult to schedule, at least where we are. Also, we watched a bunch of youtube videos and it's exclusively about getting a kid to float on their back. Most of the kids don't seem to like it much and we really just want our son to get used to the water so that he's ready to learn to swim as early as possible. If we had a pool, we would do it. The only real drawback I've heard is that it can make parents too complacent and not as careful around water, which can be dangerous. But, as long as you're still careful to supervise your kid, even if they can "save" themselves, then I think there's no real harm to it, if you have the time and money.

@Jess1483: I absolutely agree that any kind of floatie device can provide the same false sense of assurance. It's just something to be aware of, and why AAP has previously cautioned against swim classes in young kids. Like I said, I don't think it's really a reason not to do swim lessons, just something to keep in mind.

And good to know about how the lessons switch when they get over a year. Maybe we'll look into it for next summer!

@Cole: Absolutely! And that's definitely not what lessons looked like

With my older son, who started at 2.5, she taught him the swim first. She would stand about 1-2 feet from the wall and teach him to stretch out and just grab the wall. The next lesson, she'd move back a little further, or give him a bit of an angle, or something just a tad more challenging. After about 2 weeks, she introduced the float (which he did NOT like). Eventually (maybe 4-5 weeks in?) she'd have him swim too far away from the edge for him to reach right away, and he'd have to turn onto his back, into the float, to get air (she'd tell him before she did it...she didn't just surprise him and watch him try to figure it out.) Then he'd learn to flip from his back to his front to grab the wall. So now he could (in theory, of course), fall in, get himself floating, orient himself toward a wall, flip over and swim until he needed a breath, flip over to float to catch his breath, and return to swimming, then repeat until he got himself out of the water. The entire time, she emphasized breath control and eyes open in the water. Additionally, she would check to make sure he wasn't too cold (by pressing on his heel) and all sorts of other things to make sure he was safe and healthy.

With my 1 yo (7 months at the time), she just very, very slowly got him to float. By magic, I guess? She'd just put him in a float position, then let go just a little bit longer each time. Then she'd start flipping him over and right back to floating so he'd get used to closing his mouth underwater (so underwater about a second). Eventually she could drop him in (in any direction--they test all sorts of ways of him falling in) and he would flip to his back and float.

Both boys after having the basic techniques were tested by being flipped into the pool (gently) in a variety of ways, as well as in summer and winter clothes (since most kids don't fall into a pool in their bathing suits.)

She was never more than an arm's length away from my child at any time, and was well trained to look for any signs of distress/injury/illness. I felt completely confident as I watched the whole series, although when people came with me or saw videos without that context, it alarmed them a bit.

ETA: Many lessons weren't even an entire 10 minutes long. Some were just 5-7 minutes.

@mediagirl: Bumping this thread because we are considering doing this program this spring and I wondered if anyone else can vouch for it? Did you end up doing it? The cost seems astronomical and it's definitely a huge time-commitment, but if the result is that my 2-year-old son is able to safely float in the water in case of emergency, it'd be worth every penny and more (of course).