Siobahn Webster, Erie

Dear Judy,

I have always been too nervous to take my daughters (ages 3 and 2) to the pool by myself because they are both so close in age and could not swim. But since they had both just completed the 6 week program at Swim Float Swim, I thought I could manage. So off we went to the pool. Everything was going great. The girls were listening wonderfully. They wanted to go down the slide. I had one child sit on the side of the pool while I waited at the bottom for the other child to come down the slide. This system worked great. They had gone down the slide at least 8 times during our visit.

Then, my 2 year old told me she wanted to go down the slide again. I had my 3 year old sit on the side of the pool while her sister went up the slide. I went to the bottom to catch her as I had every other time. Well, at the bottom of the slide you can’t see the steps up to the slide. You can walk behind the slide to the other side of the pool which you can’t see from the bottom of the slide either. I waited at the bottom of the slide for Emily, but she never came down. After a minute I started to worry so I moved to where I could see the bottom of the steps, but she wasn’t there. I quickly backed my 3 year old away from the pool and told her not to move while I looked for her sister. I jumped back into the pool and started searching for Emily. I was in a panic but kept very calm. My eyes scanned the surface of the water and then I saw her on the other end of the pool FLOATING on her back!

You see instead of going up the slide like she told me she was going to do, she went behind the slide and jumped into the pool. Luckily she had been trained at Swim Float Swim and must have turned right to her back, because she was floating calmly waiting for me to come get her. I quickly rushed over and picked her up, praising her for doing such a great job floating. Later we talked about not jumping in a pool without Mommy, but for the moment all I did was remind her what a wonderful floater she was.

I am forever grateful to Swim Float Swim. I’m convinced that the skills she learned during her lessons truly saved her life that day.