What is Survival Swim

There are fundamental differences between survival swimming lessons and traditional swimming lessons. Their very purposes are different. Survival swim has a premise of teaching children self-rescue techniques, to help prevent water accident deaths, while traditional swimming lessons aims to teach children proper swimming strokes.

It is not true that if you don’t have a pool, you don’t need to get your child survival swimming lessons. We didn’t have a pool. Judah died in someone else’s pool and he had had traditional swimming lessons. Many kids drown in places, other than their own homes. It only takes 30 seconds for a child in that age range, to drown, and it only takes an inch of water. It can happen in swimming pools, kiddie pools, bath tubs, lakes, ponds, wells, the ocean or any other body of  water.

We recommend survival swimming lessons first, and then move to traditional swimming lessons and we do so, because safety should come first. We believe, if we had known about survival swim and Judah had learned self-rescue skills, he would have had a fighting chance to still be with us today, and we don’t want any parent to have to suffer the heartbreak we are suffering now.

Survival swimming lessons saves lives. Traditional swimming lessons are important but they can come later. They have their place and they do help kids learn proper technique, but first, they need to know how to save themselves, if they have to.

We never thought this could happen to us. But it did. You just do not know if this will happen to you or not, even if you know your child and believe they wouldn’t go near water without you. Remember, drowning is the number one cause of accidental death in the 1-4 age group for a reason. 

These tragedies happen, and they happen often. It CAN happen to anyone. Please learn from us, and take the steps needed, to put safety first, for your child. 

Look for swimming instructors who teach: Breath Control (teaching them to hold their breath for 6-8 seconds, which allows a parent to get in and get them out of the water), Turn and Grab (teaching the children that if they fall into the water, they should turn around and go back to the wall) and Back Floating (which is the most important, so that your child can sustain a position in the water in which they can breathe, while waiting for help).  Look for a place that offers consistent and frequent lessons, year round, because that is how children learn and retain these life saving skills! 

Many swimming instructors claim to offer survival swim, but if they are not doing the above things with your child, they are not teaching survival swim. It is so important for your child that you find instructors that will teach genuine survival swimming techniques. 

There are many great activities that compete for your child’s time. Your child learning soccer or piano or gymnastics are all wonderful, but none of those will keep them safe. So, why choose swimming lessons as priority, over other activities for your child? Your child learning survival swimming skills just might save their life!