Blog Posts

I deleted a post on my blog because of an email that was sent me. I was told that the post was "unflattering" and "one sided".

Blogs are one sided. They are an open journal of thoughts, feelings, stories and observations.

The post was taken off out of respect but I still stand by the truth. Nothing in that post was untrue. I am very passionate about children learning to be water safe. It is very important to me since there are so many children that drown and we as parents can prevent that.
In my opinion (yes, this is my opinion because this is my blog), a parent should never leave a child in the pool without any supervision. This includes children that can swim and children that cannot. There should always be someone out watching, even if they have friends over. A parent needs to be in eye contact with their child(ren). A drowning child never gives advance warning such as screaming... they kick and keep their heads above water for as long as they can and then sink.

I believe that no parent should "hand over" their responsibility of watching their child(ren) to another parent for any extended periods of time. I have been on the other side and it's not fair to that parent nor the child(ren). Watching my own child in the water is stressful enough and then you throw another one or two children more children in the mix, is that really safe?
Now, I am not saying that you cannot turn to a friend and ask to watch your child for a minute or two while you run to the bathroom or grab the phone. I am talking about those parents that go into the house for an extended amount of time and when needed, they are nowhere to be found.

I also believe... ALL parents need to put their children in swim lessons. Water and swimming are totally out of comfort zones of children and for adults that cannot swim. If they fall in and don't know how to get out, they panic and that is when drownings occur. Parents need to teach their children how to get out of pools. Pool fences are a deterrent, not a solution to keep kids out of pools. Kids will always find their ways around the pool fences.

Kids and swim lessons are not easy. As stated in the past, Katherine has been in swim lessons since she was 6 months old. There have been many lessons in which Katherine screamed the entire time of the lesson. I had to excuse myself and walk away so that she couldn't see me. It was tough but totally worth it. Katherine got used to being the water with her swim instructor which in turn helped her be successful in water safety.

Now that Katherine is older and a stronger swimmer, I know that she is fully capable to getting out of the water if she were to fall in. That scenario just happened a few months ago...
We were at a get together and all of the parents were outside with the children enjoying the nice weather. The children were playing tag, playing house and riding tricycles when Katherine fell into the pool while not paying attention while riding a bike. Yes, she had a shock look but she was able to get herself out of the pool without any problems.

So, you are more than welcome to agree or disagree with me and my passion for kids learning how to swim. If I am around a pool with a parent and they are not watching their kids, you will hear me call them out on it. I also don't tolerate parents that do not give their children any positive reinforcement. All kids look to their parents for their support and if you do not give that to your child, I will call you out on it. Children have tons of fears and it our jobs as parents to help them through their fears, such as swimming, and show them that there is nothing to be afraid of.

I am not saying that I am the "perfect" parent. I am simply saying, respect and have fun with your kids. Teach them about fears ~ good ones and bad ones and ones that could save their lives. Teach them and learn from them.