June 28, 2007 I just wanted to take a moment to share my thoughts about our Baby Otter Swim School graduation experience. The most important thing as a mom of a toddler is to know our daughter is safe. We investigated and made sure we educationed ourselves and our daughter at such a young age of 2 about school, religious upbringing, doctor and dentist visits, potty training, wearing helmuts on bicycles, hand washing, sleeping in her own bed, having sympathy and empathy and being a nice friend. I am sure we can add several more parental things to that list. I am MOST happy to add that we have educated our daughter about pool safety and swimming. My daughter knows what to do in and around a pool by taking Baby Otter Swim School lessons, watching their fabulous DVD, wearing a Baby Otter Swim School bracelet, and playing with her Baby Otter. Luckily, at the age of 3 and a half, she loves the water and is not only doing the turn, kick, reach program, but has moved on to the backstroke in an olympic pool and diving from the side of the pool and jumping off the diving block. There is no greater gift than watching and knowing that your child can swim freely in a pool and at the same time, knows how to be safe. We would never leave her alone in a pool and she knows her pool rules. We have all kinds of layers of protection and feel that is just NOT ENOUGH when it comes to pool safety. We have now armed our daughter with information and techniques of how to be safe in the pool. Sadly, we do not as a nation take enough time to educate our children. Pediatric offices go over a long list of questions about safety belts, car seats, immunizations, eating, sleeping, etc....and they never ask if a child can swim. What good is all of the other stuff if a child falls into the water and does not know what to do? Sadly, I just talked with an ER doctor at Joe DiMaggio's Hospital in Hollywood, Florida yesterday who advised me they have had 7 drownings in the past month. That is 7 too many! I am such a believer in the program that I helped them with their first annual fundraiser with Andre (The Hawk) Dawson. He learned how to swim at 50 and is their national spokesperson. . They just completed a segment on IVillage Live in Orlando, Florida on water safety. I would love to see more Baby Otter graduates! Thank you. Patty Kopelman |