Survival Swim Swimmer Saves Himself

As infant aquatic instructors and water safety advocates, we’re always trying to drive home the importance of life saving skills for small children. Unfortunately, this sometimes means sharing some horror stories. This time, we’d like to share a success story.

Meet Tyler:

Tyler is two years old and participates in our infant aquatic program. His mother, Candace, enrolled him in the program after seeing how it had benefited her nephews (all strong Texas Swim Academy swimmers). Like many toddlers his age, Tyler is naturally drawn to water.

We’re around water a lot, said Tyler’s mom Candace in a recent interview. Tyler is a very active and curious toddler. As he got more mobile, I knew water safety was going to be very important.

When Candace saw the skills her nephew learned from our survival swim program, she signed Tyler up. It didn’t take long for him to catch on. After just a few lessons, Tyler was going through the life saving steps with little help from the instructor. But Candace didn’t realize just how much Tyler had learned until this past Easter weekend.

We were visiting my mother for Easter weekend. The whole family was there, and even though it was too cold to swim, we spent a lot of time in the backyard socializing. We’ve set very specific rules with Tyler about going near the pool on his own, but he’s a toddler and doesn’t always remember the rules.

While the adults talked, Tyler entertained himself with a ball. Eventually the temptation of the water was too much. He kept going to the pool edge trying to play with the ball in the water. Candace recalled. Each time I would call him back and remind him of the rules, but he’d go back to the pool within minutes. Candace began to realize that Tyler might benefit more from a supervised scare, so she allowed him to venture over to the pool yet again while she kept a close eye on him. Even though she was expecting it, the sound of him falling in still alarmed her. It scared Tyler too, but he knew exactly what to do.

Tyler Wilkins practices life saving skills in his survival swim class at Texas Swim Academy

He flipped over onto his back to float, she said. Then, with everyone cheering him on, he paddled over to the steps where my husband was waiting. He was shaken up, but proud of himself- and cold! Candace can smile about the situation now, but she knows that it could have easily been a very different story had Tyler not learned these basic life saving skills.

Tyler’s behavior is typical of most small children his age, which is why we believe so strongly in the infant aquatic program. We are very proud of the progress that Tyler has made in his lessons, and hope that this incident reinforces the water safety rules that he has learned at home and at the academy. His story is a testament to the merits of infant swimming programs and an encouraging reminder to all of us at Texas Swim Academy of why we do what we do! Thank you, Candace, for allowing us to share it.

If you would like more information about our infant aquatic lessons, please visit our website or contact our office at (832) 437-6186.
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Texas Swim Academy  is an infant, child and adult swim lesson facility. The academy strives to introduce children to water at an early age through  SURVIVAL SWIM, and to fully develop their swim stroke abilities through adulthood through  STROKE DEVELOPMENT.  Children are taught life saving swim safety skills and have the option to prepare for competitive swim team. Texas Swim Academy also offers  PARENT-CHILD CLASSES  to grow the bond between parent and child and to provide a seamless, comfortable introduction to water for children. To learn more about Texas Swim Academy’s swim lessons, survival swim and other  PROGRAMS, please call (832) 437-6186. Don’t forget to connect with us on  FACEBOOK  and TWITTER!