Woman uses special technique to drown-proof toddlers
SPRING HILL –
A brilliant Florida sun burns high overhead as Michelle Tibbs gently pushes the baby underwater and lets go.
Randyn Merrill flails his arms and legs as he sinks towards the bottom of the pool. Within seconds, he’s turned himself onto his back and popped up to the surface.
He’s not happy.
The 9-month-old boy wails as he floats spread-eagle on the water. After a few more seconds, Tibbs scoops him up and cradles him to her shoulder.
“Great job!” Tibbs exclaims.
Randyn quickly calms and responds with a monstrous pool water belch.
Randyn’s family laughs from the side of the pool and the tension of the moment eases – briefly. There are still a few minutes left in Randyn’s lesson and Tibbs begins dunking him again.
It’s midway through a typical work day for Tibbs, an Infant Swimming Resource instructor. At noon on Tuesday, she had about two hours left of “drown-proofing” children in her backyard pool.
ISR has its genesis in 1966 when its founder, Harvey Barnett, watched the aftermath of a neighbor’s child drown. He spent years perfecting a technique that teaches children ages 6 months to 6 years old how to survive an unsupervised encounter with water.
In the Sunshine State, where the backyard pool is a staple of life, Tibbs considers this skill invaluable. Florida is among the 10 states where drowning surpasses all other causes of death for children under the age of 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tibbs, 36, got her start in the program after driving her child, who was 10-months-old at the time, to Tampa for lessons. After having three children, she decided to bring the program closer to home and received her ISR certification.
The lessons take commitment, as Randyn’s mother, Tracy Harrison, can tell you. The 10-minute one-on-one sessions are held five days a week for four to six weeks. Carving the time out of a hectic schedule is one challenge, but so is watching the lessons.
Harrison admits she came close to jumping in the pool several times during the first week as Tibbs dipped and dunked her baby. Her maternal instincts could hardly stand it when Randyn would surface crying and gurgling water.
Tibbs is used to it.
“Neither the student nor the parent likes me much during the first week,” she said with a grin.
But as Randyn grew acclimated to the water, Harrison learned to relax a little, too. Her initial fears that Randyn would be traumatized have given way to amazement in his abilities.
Tibbs had older students Tuesday who were walking. Once they reach that stage, they learn to not only float, but kick and swim for the lip of the pool or a ladder.
All students practice floating in pajamas, winter clothes and summer clothes before they graduate the class.
Tibbs teaches lessons from early April through late October. She finds the work rewarding, especially given that ISR boasts a 100 percent success rate. From her perspective, it’s one less drowning to hear about on the news.
“It’s really fulfilling for me to watch them all succeed,” she said.
INFORMATION:
To learn more about Infant Swimming
Resource, visit the Web site at: infantswim.com
Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or [email protected].
