Silver State ISR

Fostering unearned confidence without teaching actual survival skills is dangerous, especially if there is a lapse in supervision.

I’m a firm believer in “you don’t know what you don’t know” and when I hear parents say “but I just want them to be comfortable in the water, will lessons make them hate the water?” I see it as an opportunity to educate.

Drowning is the leading cause of death for kiddos ages 1-4, your kiddo being comfortable is not my number 1 priority but having taught hundreds of kiddos I know that with proper instruction they WILL eventually be comfortable—confident but more importantly SAFE! Does this mean I’m just going to throw them in or make their experience intentionally uncomfortable? Absolutely not. I will always meet your kiddo where they are with a big smile, high fives and water claps, and a ton of positive reinforcement. I want to see every kiddo comfortable in the water just not at the expense of their safety.

Once that skill is established and the confidence starts to set in, sometimes it can feel overwhelming to make sure you are still safely practicing—especially if you have more than one kiddo to keep an eye on.

If asking first with eye contact “Are you ready?!” Isn’t working —-change the stimulus and try something else!

How about—-high fives before you jump?! No high fives back, then no jumping because the adult in the water isn’t ready!

Not every kiddo is the same so finding what works for your kiddo is important to create water safe boundaries!