Infant Swim Resource aka Torture lessons

So in the spring I started thinking about summer and swimming. I really want Bailey to learn to float and swim as soon as possible so I started doing a little swim research. I came across the company Infant Swim Resource and saw that there was a instructor in Rockwall. I read more about it and watched some videos and decided that it was a little costly but I was going to go ahead and sign up.

They make the program seem really great. You keep track of your child's bathroom, eating, and wellness on a sheet and bring it to the class. You go through a pretty extensive medical questionnaire to register with ISR and so I felt pretty confident that I was putting Bailey into a program that was going to benefit her and was safe. I paid the hefty $105 registration fee. I think I know why they have that hefty fee now but more on that later.

So, I got Bailey all ready, followed all the directions to a tee and then got to the swimming pool. I had read and been told that children may fuss a bit but that it was to be expected. So, I was prepared that Bailey may be a little resistant at first but that she would soon adapt. When I arrived at the pool it was the tail end of one little boys lesson. He seemed about the same age as Bailey but he was already out of the water and next up was an older little girl. She was I guess around 3. She didn't seem excited about her lesson and the instructor Donna Penny did not seem real excited either. She tried to encourage her but it wasn't exactly what I call comforting. I already had red mom flags and fear running through me. However, nothing was going to prepare for what was next.

Into the parking lot pulls a mini van. As soon as the mini van door opens there is SCREAMING bellowing out of the van. I am not talking a little crying. I am talking blood curdling screaming. Out of the car comes not one but 2 babies (twins) who are screaming and crying. There mom brings them over and they are screaming and screaming. I am not sure how old they were but I would guess somewhere around 15 months old. Again, I have red flags but I still trying to put it all together.

Bailey was up next after the 3 year old. The classes are one on one and only 10 minutes. Bailey actually did pretty good. She likes water and doesn't care to much about it being in her face. She fussed a little but more like a I am not so sure about this. After that lesson we left and I assume the twins were next. I changed Bailey in the back of the car and all I could here were those twins SCREAMING!!! What alarmed me the most was that when I got Bailey dress I turned around and they were screaming in the water. I couldn't really see them that well and got in the car and drove home.

That evening I told Trever that I wasn't sure about the lesson and that I wasn't so concerned about Bailey's lesson as I was the other kids and wondered if this is what Bailey's lessons were going to escalate to.

I couldn't go to sleep that night despite being exhausted. All I could do was sit their and think about those kids screaming and being made to do things that they didn't want to do. I was pretty sure I didn't want Bailey to continue but then remembered her lesson had really gone ok and that I had paid this $105 deposit and had already paid for the lessons for the week. I thought maybe I should wait until the end of the week and see how Bailey was doing.

I emailed the instructor and stated my concerns. She told me that "those kids were older and that they had above normal fear levels and lets talk more at tomorrows lesson." which was a lie but maybe she had me confused with someone else. So we go back on Tuesday. When we pull into the parking lot the twins are already there and the screams are once again coming from the van. Mom straps them in a stroller and off they go screaming all the way. I thought oh no here we go again. The twin mom asks me what time our lesson is and I say 4:50 and she said that is our time too. Apparently the twins had gone out of town and we had been double booked but there lessons were ending that week. I thought holy cow this is how they are after 4 weeks? Anyway, Donna (the instructor) tells me that we will talk when twin #2 gets in the water. I sat there wanting to cry and save those little boys. It was awful and I really haven't posted about it because it still sort of haunts me. Anyway, twin #1 was in the water screaming the whole time and being dunked over the water thrown over backwards in the water etc. Now he did have the "skills" because he would turn over to his back and float again but how would you like to be screaming all the while someone is making you do something you don't want to? Anyway, then twin #2 got in the water and she came down to the end where I was sitting and Bailey was playing in the kiddie pool. She asked me again what my concerns were. I told her that I WOULD not put my child in the water screaming like that. She told me that this was about learning survival skills and that the kids were throwing a bunch of drama. She compared these lessons to me giving vaccines and bailey crying. Ya, she crys when she gets shots but I don't give them to for 10 minutes everyday for 4 weeks! I mean I suppose you could compare it to a lot of things. I mean I don't want her to get kidnapped by strangers and I hope when she gets older she wouldn't go with a stranger but I wouldn't but her through a 10 minute "lesson" everyday for 4 weeks with someone taking her. She asked me if I would rather her cry a little or be dead on the bottom of the pool? She said that she knows families who have pulled their child off the bottom of the pool and she said if you ask them if they could have put their child in a lesson to learn to survive a fall in a pool but that they would scream and cry that they would take the screaming and crying lesson over their child on the bottom of the pool. Valid point I thought and decided to go ahead with the lesson and hadn't really had time to process what she had said. Bailey did about the same as Monday and was actually doing a pretty good job of floating grabbing her hand under the water etc.

Tuesday night I again lay in bed awake thinking about those screaming kids and started trying to justify what really seemed like torture to me. I decided I would give it one more day and then that would be it. so we went on Wednesday. The twins got their before us so I had to endure their lesson again and then it was Bailey's turn. She was not very happy this time and was crying and sputtering water most of the time. What is more frightening than that is that there was not much comforting from the instructor. I think that she deals with so many screaming kids everyday that she has become desensitized to the crys and just sort of goes about her job like it is no big deal. Bailey was doing this sign that means "hold me" the whole time and I felt helpless on the side of the pool. The lesson was short and over and I knew that we would probably not be coming back.

Wow I have rambled a lot. I guess I have rambled a lot because I wish that I would have known what I was really getting myself into when I signed up. I also wish I would have trusted my initial motherly instinct of fear and run like hell and told this lady she was psycho but I guess I just couldn't get past the money and the thought that everything was going to work out. I really think these lessons are borderline abuse, but I suppose people would disagree. So, if you do decided to use Infant Swim Resource then just know that your child is probably going to cry through most of the lesson and that they will learn the skills but I wonder at what cost. :(