I had both of our children take ISR lessons and would like to share each of their stories. My daughter had a tremendous fear of water at an early age. This fear not only made it difficult to teach her to swim, but getting her to take baths and showers was also a daily challenge. If so much as a drop of water got on her face, she would panic and throw a fit. I signed her up for lessons when she was around 3 or 4 years old with Stacy Van Santen-Barton. Stacy took her time with my daughter to help build her confidence. My daughter went from being terrified to floating on her own to swimming under water. As I write this, she is now 10 years old and loves the water. I can't thank Stacy enough for her time, patience, and dedication to helping little ones learn to swim. Her passion for her profession shows with the excellent care and service she provides to each and every family. A few years later we had a son, moved up to the Treasure Coast, and did what all South Floridians do, we bought a boat. Most of our family time was spent cruising the intracoastal, tubing, and visiting sand bars with the kids. After having great success with our daughter learning the ISR skills, we decided it was important for our son to take lessons. We signed him up with Gina Neidigh. She did a terrific job working with him and guiding him through his lessons. She always made sure she went at his pace. He really enjoyed the lessons. On one of our waterway outings, we stopped off a little island cove in the intracoastal. My husband and I sat on the beach while the kids played in the water. Our son was walking with a tube in ankle deep water right next to us, but when we looked in his direction he was not there. We looked up and down the beach area thinking he wondered off, but we did not see him. The next thought was that he went under. This would have been a nightmare to find him as there was not much visibility in the water. I moved the tube out of the way and there he was... floating on his back. Thank God he was okay. Although the water was ankle deep, in just a couple of feet the shelf dropped to a little deeper section. When he stepped there, he realized he could no longer reach the bottom and automatically remember to float. He was literally within arms reach. He was supervised. A split second and a couple of feet was all it took for him to go from safely playing to being in a dangerous situation.! At the time this happened, he had not yet completed ISR program, but he learned enough to save his own life. He was around 3 or 4 at the time. Now at 7 years old, he loves the water and swims like a fish. We are so thankful for ISR and their amazing instructors. It is a blessing to have a program like this that teaches children from an early age how to Self-Rescue. These lessons invaluable, priceless, and the best investment a parent could make.
My family's experience with ISR has been nothing but phenomenal from the very beginning all the way up until the last lesson. We enjoyed our teacher Christen Buchert "The Swim Lady" so much. Her attention to detail and her technique to catering to each individual child's specific needs is something she is truly a natural at! Let's face it; putting your infant in a pool at 10 months old with no rotation device, who isn't walking yet, nonetheless never swam a day in her life, is very nerve wracking. It took one lesson with Christen for our guards to come completely down and we trust her with our child's safety and best interest. Normally our daughter doesn't take well to strangers and Adreana took to christen right away. Christen's vast knowledge and experience with ISR, her love and passion for teaching children swim and survival classes shined through every single lesson. In just the 15 minutes we spent with her a day, we watched Adreana! progress and learn a different skill every lesson. It was so amazing and rewarding to watch our daughters progress in a short 6 weeks. My family will Forever be grateful that we chose to start Adreana in ISR lessons at 10 Months old with "the swim lady" . I look forward to continue to take Adreana to refresher courses with Christen and we are so excited to watch her gain even more confidence in swimming as she gets older . I will highly recommend christen to any parent looking to ensure their child's safety around water. I give ISR five gold stars and two thumbs up. My family is forever thankful for you all.
We love and swear by the techniques and training for ISR Swim Lessons. Both our children have been through the program from infancy. This weekend my 4 year old daughter went to a swim party and ALL of the other kids have floaties or swim vests on. My daughter asked me what was wrong with the other kids because she couldn't understand why they could not swim. She didn't need floaties and swam like a pro for the entire party. At one point she jumped in and another parent nearly went in after her because she didn't have floaties. Another time my daughter went down the slide and another child went right after her pushing her down to bottom. She handled herself gracefully by moving over and coming to the top to an immediate float then rolled and swam to the side. It was beautiful and so satisfying to know all the hard work that goes with those daily swim lessons paid off so perfectly. We recommend this to everyone we know.
This was our second year doing ISR. It was wonderful to see Micah get right back into the swing of things. At only 21 months it’s amazing to see Micah swimming and floating with a big smile on his face. His level of comfort with his instructor and the water are a result of the combination of ISR’s proven method of teaching water safety and Dawn’s proficiencies in working with small children. We are around water at least three times a week and, thanks to ISR and Dawn, our pool time is always stress free and fun.
We now have a small pool (two feet deep and eight feet across) in our yard. Micah loves being in it and is at least once every day (weather permitting). The first time he got in he slipped and went under. He immediately swam to the edge and pulled himself up! He wasn’t even fazed. He just blinked his eyes a couple of times and continued playing. It was so great to see his new skills at work.
Micah picks up his toy phone from time to time and starts to talk. I always ask whom he’s calling and what they’re talking about. At least once a week he says, “Miss Dawn…. swimming!” It’s very clear to me that he loves his ISR lessons. We can’t wait for our next refresher course!
My story Begins August 11, 2011, 5 days after my sons third birthday. My husband had just got home from work and I was off to our upstairs closet to pack for a long weekend trip up north. That day, we had several other older children playing in the backyard and around our lake. Gary, my husband, and James our son, were both back and forth from the house to the lake playing. At one point, I heard James crying as he came inside with his dad. James wanted his fishing pole fixed so he could go fishing. I came down stairs into the kitchen, and untangled his fishing line and tied a tiny little skateboard to the end to avoid hooks, worms, etc. This wasn’t the first time I had done that, in the attempt to help him practice casting and reeling in the line. I ran back upstairs to finish packing. In the meantime, something just programmed me, as most of you mother’s know, to quickly ask about where James was. In that instant, as I’m looking down at Gary from the upstairs, he says, “he’s outside with the kids playing.” I said, “are you sure?” And at that moment it all registered what was happening. Gary ran out of the house as fast as he could go. From behind, he looked like he was flying. Being 26 weeks pregnant, at the time, I wasn’t able to keep up. I could hear our son screaming for help, but I couldn’t see him. I knew in my heart he was in the water. I was yelling to my husband, “GET HIM OUT! GET HIM OUT!” Half way across our neighbor’s backyard and down to my-father-in-law’s dock, I could see his yellow shirt in the water. He was barely floating on his back, but he was doing it enough to get his mouth out of the water to breath and scream, “DADDY HELP ME! DADDY HELP ME!” A neighbor was wading in the water towards the dock, but by that time, Gary had already jumped in and pulled James out of the water. By the Grace of God, he was fine. Very lethargic, exhausted, and stunned over what had happened, but he was fine. James had dropped his fishing pole in the water and was trying to reach it, and fell in. The water was over his head. James had just started floating on his back that very same week in ISR. The day he fell in the lake was on a Thursday. It was the second most difficult week in ISR for James besides his first couple of days in the class. Like most small children, being on their backs in the water is an awkward position, but a vital one at that. Looking back, I now know why I was lead to ISR. I was adamant about it from the very beginning. Not growing up on the water, but frequently around it, I knew the importance of water safety skills. I had also helped with swimming lessons in high school for children 3-5 years of age, so I was aware of the danger associated with small children and water. ISR is a commitment. Just like anything else in our lives that are worth working for. Our children are our commitments and are worth working for. It is also a lifestyle change for the parent who is taking the child to the lessons. It is everyday, for six weeks, for 10 minute lessons at a time. Not to mention they are usually right in the middle of your morning when you get most of your chores and errands done. There are several other steps that you have to do to make sure your child is ready each and every day for their lesson. But, YOU JUST DO IT! James has exceeded the six weeks and is currently finishing up his eighth week. His instructor and I were both on the same page when we made the decision to keep him in longer. Parents, there are countless stories, each and every day of one more child that has not drowned, ONLY because of ISR. It’s the ONLY way to teach your child the lifesaving skills he or she will need in the event they accidentally fall in the water. My personal experience with ISR and Anna Anderson has been a remarkable journey. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t say a prayer to myself, thanking God for ISR and for Anna Anderson. She has truly made a difference in me and my family’s life. If it weren’t for her, James wouldn’t be with us today. The dedication, love and direction that she has given to my son over the past eight weeks, has been beyond doubt, amazing. I often think to myself that she’s one of the many angels that are here with us, walking this earth. She’s a talented, lovely woman that has given my son a second chance at life. Words cannot express the gratitude that my husband and I have for her and ISR. Our newest addition to the family is due to arrive November 15, 2011. He will be six months old in May of 2012, and will be in the water with Mrs. Anna! I look forward to our next journey with ISR. If anything, I hope that my story will impact the lives of parents with small children who are considering ISR. PLEASE, stop considering and DO IT! It’s the best thing you could ever do for your children and your family.
