Customer Reviews

Water Babies - How to Teach Your Baby to Swim [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great video. It caught and held my attention with this sentence on the back cover, "[T]each your child to hold their breath underwater, to turn over and float, and to have confidence while swimming." I'm a first time mama and was a tad nervous about having our daughter submerged, but this video put me at ease.

The best part is you can actually teach your child how to swim. Gina Ambrose is the daughter of Gretchen Mack who founded the "Water Babies Swim School". Gina, along with a variety of young assistants, demonstrates each of the nine steps showcased in this instructional video. Most steps build on the previous one so it's easy to follow. Every step makes sense and is simple.

There are a lot of underwater shots of the children which provides comfort and entertainment. Reality check, not all babies will be happy when learning to swim and to prove it, there's an unhappy child in this video. It's good to know that not all kids are perfect, but they can certainly be on their way to swimming with this video.

I thought it could of been longer, it's 27 minutes. More examples of babies underwater would be great. Also, I would have liked to see the reaction of the babies when they surfaced, I felt they cut to the next scene too quickly. However, those two minor issues aside, this is a great video and I highly recommend it to every one. Whether you want your child to simply be comfortable and safe around water or to be a strong swimmer, start with this video.

My husband and I really liked this video! It's well-produced, has 9 simple steps that I feel I can do myself, they're well-demonstrated, and the instructor, Gina Ambrose, has a very soothing way about her, so our daughter enjoys watching with us. She is 16 months and we're only now starting the techniques, even though she's been going to the pool a lot since she was 4 months and is comfortable in water. I wish I had found this earlier. But even now, it's very helpful to me when we're in the pool together. Our time is more productive. Plus she enjoys watching the video and sees other kids role modeling what to do in the water.

The only thing is that the 1-800 number on the video for ordering the recommended baby fins is out of service. I searched the net for the fins with no luck finding anything like the ones in the video, which look great. I found the number for the Water Babies school in the San Jose area, however, and they called me back even though it was off-season, and gave me their address to send away for the fins.

Anyway, this video seems to demystify the concept of teaching a baby to swim and makes it seem very doable.

Teaching my baby this way wasn't suitable. Babies aren't happy. When I first bought a book about the subject (Water Babies: Teach Your Baby the Joys of Water - From Newborn Floating to Toddler Swimming) I thought I need a video as well to *see* things happen. I watched the VHS twice and don't think I will use it again. The book was more fun to follow and it taught me alot of patience as a mother. My baby was happy following the instructions in the pool. To this VHS, teaching comes first, while to the author of the book I mentioned the baby comes first, and that's what I liked about it.

I still might recommend this video if your baby is over 2 years old and doesn't like the pool. My baby is under 1 year and maybe it's why I preferred a book with a slower method.

".....instructional video WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO QUICKLY TEACH YOUR CHILD TO SWIM, not only for fun... but for important, lifesaving water safety....."
[from the back cover of VHS case]