All Things Angela

09/06/2023

All it teaches them:

1) Muscle memory for very bad body positioning in the water that will make it EASIER to drown if they find water without the device. Since 69% of young child drownings happen during non-swim times when devices won’t be worn, we should all be concerned about this.

2) Ingrains bad body positioning in the water for them. That makes it twice as hard for them to learn to swim properly and takes twice as long in lessons due to having to correct the ingrained, incorrect positioning.

3) Creates a false sense of safety and security. Many young kids don’t recognize that the device is what keeps them floating and believe they are doing it with their own ability. They will then be much more likely to try to go back to the water without their device, thinking they can truly swim when they can’t.

4) Kids often forget that they don’t have the device on and impulsively/reflexively jump in the water because they are so used to the freedom to do so with their devices and then they drown.

5) They teach kids that water is completely safe and that they are free to go into it whenever they want to because they always could with their device on.

Combine all of these. Using these devices constantly during pool time simply sets our kids up for a drowning to happen.

Why do this? Because it’s “easier” than getting them lessons? Because it’s more “convenient” than having one on one touch supervision with them in the water?

Why not get them skilled in the water instead??? When they are skilled they learn respect for the water and they learn to be their own flotation device, should they ever find the water without you.

Yeah, it’s more convenient to put them in a device and let them go than to stay with them in the water and show them what their own bodies can and can’t do in it. It is definitely easier to let them stay in the device a little longer, as opposed to getting them lessons right now.

But my friends, that device and all of its’ consequences will be the hardest thing you have ever done in your life, if using it in the wrong ways results in you finding your child face down and lifeless in the water, like I did with mine.

That device won’t seem so convenient as you wait in the hospital while your child slowly loses all of their brain functioning and there is nothing that can be done to stop it.

That device won’t be worth fighting to justify when you hold your lifeless child in your arms for the very last time.

Let me be very clear. I’m not judging you if you use/have used devices this way. I didn’t know that they did these things to kids until it was too late for my son. I didn’t know better until my baby was gone.

I want you to know better while your babies can still grow up. I don’t want you to live the agony that I do every day. Please hear my heart and take this as love and care for you, and not judgement against you.

Know better than I did. Do better than I did. Keep your babies as safe as you can. Every bit of work to get them there is worth every breath they get to take because you did the harder thing for them.

Trust me on that.

Save flotation devices for open water, like oceans, lakes and rivers, or in uncontrollable environments like overcrowded camps and water parks, where they are genuinely needed and can be used effectively, without teaching unintentional bad habits to our kids.

If your child has a special need that stops them from being able to learn to swim, then of course that also makes good sense to use these devices when around any water.

But aside from the above situations, please stop using them in the pools every time you take your child there.

It’s just not worth it.

06/26/2023

Hey hey! I have swim lesson slots available the week of July 10th!

02/26/2023

I can’t believe it’s the end of February!!! I’m not minding the temps, but the rain, y’all!!!! I need my ☀️!!

Things will look a little different this summer so if you are interested in swim lessons, make sure you let me know sooner rather than later!

I’m seriously missing all the amazing little people you trust in my care. I’m so thankful for each and every one of you!!!!

09/07/2022

08/02/2022

I am sad that school is about to start. Every single year-it’s just too early!! 2020 proved we can start school later and be ok!

I wanted to say thank you to all of you who trusted me to work with your littles this year-it is truly my honor and pleasure! It is my passion!

07/05/2022

This is why when I teach about the safe places in a pool, I tell them people are NOT safe. It’s hard for children to understand this, especially when the people are trusted adults, but they often don’t realize not all adults know how to swim either.

Just yesterday I saw on the news yet another multiple drowning that happened because a bystander tried to rescue someone from the water. This happens ALL the time!

If someone is drowning and you or your child are/is next to them or even trying to help them, that person will pull you/your child under the water too.

Why? Because they are in survival mode. They are desperate for air and only using the part of their brain that will do anything to stay alive. They probably don’t even realize that they are pulling on another person. They simply need to get up and get air and that’s all they know in that moment.

But the result is often that both people end up drowning, which is why we say to not try to go rescue someone from the water and to reach or throw something that floats instead. We call this ”Throw Don’t Go” with the kids we teach.

But if you do find yourself or your child finds themselves in a situation where someone is pulling you/them down in the water, the best thing to do is “Suck, Duck, Tuck”:

Suck in a breath of air.

Duck under the water.

Tuck yourself up and then push off with your arms and legs, pushing the other person away.

Then throw them something that floats or reach with a long pole, branch, pool noodle, etc. and get help!

We teach this to every child in our school trainings.

Teach it to your kids too!!

07/01/2022

4th of July weekend means lots of swimming! Be be safe in and on (lake, ocean) the water!

Children should wear the vest type life vests with the strap that comes between their legs. This is the very best kind as it allows them to swim on their belly, and on their back and keeps their legs properly positioned. (Puddle jumpers keep their arms restricted, and their legs beneath them setting them up to be in a drowning position.)

Happy Birthday ‘Merica!

Stay safe!

06/17/2022

Did you know this?

From a US Coast Guard Statement regarding flotation devices in 2020:

“The US Coast Guard only approves floatation devices for use on water vessels. They DO NOT evaluate or approve the safety of devices for use for any other purpose. They do not evaluate any device for use as a "swim aid" and they note that there is NO widely accepted regulatory definition for the term "Swim Aid".

ANY use or misuse of personal flotation devices beyond use on water vessels is outside of the regulatory authority and jurisdiction of the US Coast Guard.”

The makers of Puddle Jumpers, in particular, really focus on the fact that they are "Coast Guard approved" and they market their devices as a "Swim Aid". But all those statements are is PURE MARKETING. It's a way to get you to think that they are safe and then go and buy them. Hear me…they are NOT accurate statements of the actual safety of these devices.

The Coast Guard never intended for flotation devices to be taken to the pools for use there. Makers of the devices saw a market for it and brought it there. Parents, worried for their kids, believed the marketing and brought them to the pools.

I have to ask…now that you know that… will you trust the marketing departments or the swim instructors and water safety professionals with your child's safety?

The marketing departments will have you believe that you are keeping your child safer with these devices. But marketing departments aren't trained in water safety. They don't spend every day learning, evaluating and teaching water safety. They spend their days working out how they can sell you more devices. They spend their days thinking of and using catch phrases and buzz words to draw you in.

Water safety professionals and swim instructors focus EVERY DAY on how to keep your kids safer around the water. They are dedicated, not to getting into your wallet, but to learning and teaching how to keep your family safer around water.

What are many of us water safety professionals seeing as a pattern with ANY flotation devices used consistently in swimming pools?

-FALSE SENSE OF SAFETY-Young children end up believing that they can swim, with or without the device on, and there is a consistent pattern of them being more likely to go back into the water without their devices on as a result of that. It’s THEN that they drown, because they didn't realize that they can't "swim" without the device.

You feel safer with the device on the kids, so you won't keep as close of an eye on them as you would if they didn't have one on. You only focus on when they have it on, and don't realize that they are developing a belief that they themselves can float, with or without the device. Then, in just the few minutes it takes to sneak away from you and back to the pool without the device on, they drown.

We have seen this same scenario, over and over again. It happened with my child and I can name many, many others that this happened to as well.

It ALMOST NEVER happens due to neglect. All cases of child deaths are investigated thoroughly. In very, very few cases are the parents found to have been neglectful. In very, very few cases are the accidents a result of parental neglect. That is an unfair stigma that punches parents who are already down and needs to stop.

-DROWNING position-These devices put your child in a vertical position in the water. With consistent use, they teach your child that this is the position they need to automatically get in when they get into water. This position is also known as the drowning position. Not only is this position incredibly hard for instructors to unteach, it is the position that most drownings occur in.

They teach children to arch their heads to get to their air. It is not possible for children to sustain a swimming position when arching their heads and this is the single most difficult habit to unteach once kids learn it.

You want your child to learn a horizontal, life saving position in the water. These devices teach the exact opposite of that.

Instructors can tell a puddle jumper user from a non-puddle jumper user, just by seeing their posture in the water.

-USE OF THESE DEVICES AFTER SWIM LESSONS CAUSES THE CHILD TO UNLEARN THEIR SKILLS! Instructor after instructor after instructor have told us that using floatation devices regularly in pools after lessons basically erases the skills the children learned while in lessons.

I ask again, who will you trust with your child's safety....with their life? Good and cute marketing that cares only about your credit card or professionals and mothers who have lost children this way, who put their vulnerability and mistakes out there for you to learn from, because they TRULY care about YOUR child's life?

NOTE: US Coast Guard approved life jackets should ALWAYS be used in and around OPEN water (oceans, lakes and rivers) because of the unpredictability of natural waters and the fact that kids are largely not participating in swimming while in and around open water (so that bad positioning and false sense of security will not be perpetuated there).

So, what can we do instead?

1) Get in the pool with your child. Allow them to learn what their bodies can and can't do in the water. Always be within arm's reach of any non-swimmer.

If you can't have one on one touch supervision, save pool visits until you can. Take the kids to the splash pad or use sprinklers instead. Take them to the pool when more adults are there or take them as a special one-on-one treat time, while the other children are home with another care giver.

2) Get your young kids into survival swim lessons. They can learn to be their own flotation devices at 6-7 months old, as soon as they can sit up well on their own. Check out infantswim.com or infantaqutics.com for instructors near you and more information on these lessons.

Get your big kids into swimming lessons that focus on safety around water.

3) Use the other layers of protection:

Pool fences that are made of mesh, completely surrounding the pool, have a self-closing and self-latching and locking gate and are at least 5 feet high. Check out Life Saver Pool Fence Systems! They build a safe product!!

Locks and alarms on all windows, doors and dog doors leading to water.

Learn CPR and make sure there is always someone who knows CPR with you around the water. Remember that for drowning victims, rescue breaths are the KEY to rescue. They need that Oxygen!!

06/16/2022

How are you all enjoying this heat? I have been spending a lot of time in the pool teaching swim lessons and enjoying every second of it!!!

I still have limited availability left in July and August!

02/14/2022

Well, its been a hot minute since I've posted here! I hope everyone is doing GREAT!

Thank you so much for the inquiries about swim lessons! YES! I am doing lessons this year again and I'm so excited! Please let me know if you or someone you know is interested in lessons! I'd love to be the one to help!