Customer Reviews

Learn to Swim with Miss Bea - A Nadar con la Maestra Beatriz

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Before my son was born I spent a lot of time researching and reading anything and everything on which I could get my hands. I used to be a life guard and a swimming instructor for all levels of swimming and I think this is a terrific video with well thought out, clear, and well demonstrated instructions for what to do and how to do it. Yes, it is only 27 minutes long or so, but you don't need it to be longer. It'll help any parent work with their child (ages 0 to about 6) in and around the water. With enough practice of the techniques that are shown, the child could learn to propel him/herself in the water [shouldn't expect a child under 3 to hold their head above water while swimming/doing a doggy paddle -it is too heavy in proportion to their body, and so infants and toddlers swim with their head down].
No other video currently in the market (July 2010) compares. A very good book to complement this video, especially if you have infants/toddlers, is How to Teach Your Baby to Swim: From Birth to Age Six. I also used the techniques in this book (most of which can be watched in Ms. Bea's video) since my baby was born and he never had a problem with water in his face or in his ears.
There's only one small aspect of this video that I don't like and it is the instructor saying that if you can teach your child/infant to float on their back, they could potentially save themselves if they fell in the water. It doesn't keep me from recommending the video but parents should know that right now there is only one program that can help an infant/toddler survive if they fell in the water with no-one around and that is ISR [Infant Swimming Resource [...]]. No YMCA or Red Cross swim lessons could help an infant/toddler with that because there is a lot more to water survival for this age group than knowing how to swim or float. Enrolling my 13 month old in ISR was the best thing I could've done [but I didn't find out about ISR until he was almost a year]. My son is now 19 months and with ISR he learned to propel himself under water, roll onto his back and float when he needs to take a breath/rest, and roll back to swim under water until he reaches me, the shore, the stairs, or the wall. ISR starts with children as young as 6 months to 6 years. As any parent knows, supervision is not perfect and so I'm thankful he can do this even though I watch him like a hawk in and around the water (any parent would). It is a gentle program. Sure, he cried during his 10 minute lessons each time, but he also cries to be taken out of the car seat and when he has to get a shot. Now he's less than 2 years old and is a little fish in the water. He has so much fun and I can tell he's so proud of his skills. The ISR lessons were worth every penny. He still watches Ms. Bea's video himself just for fun at least once a week. He asks for it!

We really liked this DVD. It has great lessons to help you teach your child how to swim. My son watched this with us and he used the ideas and began swimming this summer. I began using these techniques on our baby and she loves the water and does not mind the occasional dunk - with the DVDs described warning.