Hello Everyone,

I've read past posts regarding ISR experiences and have decided to enroll. Our trio are 20 months. I have read up on the program and all seems great. Here is my question; what do you and/or the instructor do if your kid/s are upset or scared? Do they just plug on because its only tem minutes? im not sure i can handle that, afterall i want it to be a positive experience. perhaps i am over thinking it. what did you all as moms and your other 2 children do while one was in the water? did it take more than 6 weeks? did you do the refresher course the next year? thanks for reading just wondering...
meg

Meg
ID BB&G 11/5/09
35.5 weeks
Juniper Brown
Callum Ilex
Acer Leonard

We are currently doing our refresher course right now. We did ISR at this same time last year and it took us literally all summer,June through Sept. Every instructor is different. Ours usually is running behind, so right off the bat, we are off schedule. I have 3 very strong-willed, stubborn, opinionated toddlers, which is one reason we had to go for so long. They are not going to like it at first. Lots of screaming, wanting mommy, wanting to get out. I always have another person with me at ISR, so I can watch the lesson and the other person can get the next one ready. It was a very long summer and hot....but WORTH EVERY SECOND!!!!!! My children know what to do if they fall into a pool or any body of water. That is worth its weight in gold. Drowning can happen in seconds and it is silent.By the end of our lessons, the children who had been crying in the car because they knew what was going to happen were racing to the screen door, arguing over who got to go first. Personally, I don't have a problem sitting there and listening to them be upset in the pool. This is something that can and will save their lives. I have met moms who have had their kids go through ISR and their kids have fallen into a pool and the kids knew what to do. You have to be encouraging and supportive and positive. If you send me a pm I will find you and friend you on Facebookso you can see where I have posted a video of my DS graduating from his refresher course. He did his winter clothes checkout today and I am going to post that video tonight. It is wonderful that you are getting them in there and starting the ISR. We live in FL, everywhere you go there is water. I am hyper-vigilant...but all it takes is a second and my kids are too precious for me (and obviously you!) to not do this for them.
Be strong,message me, and good luck!

Sally
Mom to the K-Krew
33wk 3d 9/30/08
BBG

www.sallyok.blogspot.com

You need to prepare yourself... ISR is not about being a positive experience for the kids. It's about making sure they are safe. Mine scream through the 10 minute lesson for 4 weeks. Makenna scream until 6 weeks. I quickly learned that my presence in the pool made the screaming worse, so after the third day, I dropped a kid to the instructor and then went to he truck with the other two. Don't take all three into it...the other two will freak by the time the first is done. It sucks and will break your heart, but and this is the big but...at four my kids swim without me in the pool. Y
They were fish by the age of two. At three, I stayed in the pool, but could be on he stairs while they jumped into the deep end. Go to my blog and search swimming. I have videos from each week. Best money I ever spent)

Kimberly,
Mom to Isabelle, Alyssa, and Makenna
www.guinntrips.com

We did it at about that age. The instructor was more gentle and kind that I expected, but the lesson was getting done whether the kids hated it or not. They did hate it for the first week. By the second week they thought it was fun, and it was fine after that!

The first week, I could not have had the others at the pool while I was trying to encourage the one in the water. We took at local preteen with us, who entertained the others so I could focus on the one swimming.

It was HARD, especially in the beginning. But it was one of the best decisions we have ever made for our kids! They are total fish in the water at this point!

BGG born 4/25/05 at 31w1d




New baby girl born 9/19/06

Oh, and YES, you will need the refresher. Doing it again, I would probably do the refresher EARLIER than one year. (But my kids are not athletic at all.) They had forgotten a LOT by the time we went back. Doing it again, I would do it at 6 or 9months rather than a year, and would keep that cycle up until they were in regular swim lessons (age 3 or so).

Also, keep in mind that the general ISR registration fee is annual, so even if you wait a year, go back just before the year is up, rather than just after to avoid having to be re-approved and all that.

BGG born 4/25/05 at 31w1d




New baby girl born 9/19/06