Who am I kidding? It's September in Florida, which means there's still a few weeks of summer left. However, the highs have dropped out of the 90's into the upper 80's a bit early this year, so I'm seeing a glimmer of fall.
While I'm thrilled to be able to take Li'l Girlie to parks and not be drenched in sweat within 5 minutes, there's been a lot about this summer that we'll miss. For one, splash pads. When Li'l Girlie's into them, it's pretty much guaranteed running around and getting worn out for her, and some good time catching up with friends for me. A little mother/daughter pretend tea time with her plastic tea set gets thrown in too. Everybody wins! Our fave splash pad (shown above) is really close to home, FREE and has really entertaining water features. I know not every area has this style of fountain pad, and we partook of some of the paid entry ones that had bigger water features as well. Lots of inexpensive fun.
To me, here's what makes a great splash pad:
Varied water features or water patterns that has at least one fountain kids can use to fill up buckets. That's truly half the fun for most kids.
Shade. 'Nuff said.
Inexpensive or free admission.
One that's not overrun with day camp attendees. Not that I'm against day camps or day camps taking their campers to splash pads....all I'm saying is that the days they're there, all other children pretty much get run over.
Added bonus for moms with small children who run away a lot...fenced in. Li'l Girlie's never really been a runner, but containment was great for when we had playdates with kids who were.
Splash pads, we will miss you. Hope we get to visit a couple more times before the weather turns. See you next summer!
Being attracted to nearly any source of water, having parents who enjoy swimming, exhibiting a huge interest in fish and aquatic animals, and being a Florida resident have almost destined Li'l Girlie for swimming lessons early in life. Infant/Toddler swim programs abound in Central Florida, but I wanted to make sure that we did one that would help Li'l Girlie if she was in a potential drowning situation. Knowing her enjoyment of water and curiosity, it seemed the smartest thing for us to do.
We know of several families who've lost children in drowning accidents and another family whose son is still alive and well only by the grace of God including his quick-acting mom and the help of an EMT. Drowning is a leading cause of infant/young childrens' death in Florida, so we're so glad that something like Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) is out there to teach young children skills they need to survive in the water. For toddlers, ISR teaches a swim-float-swim sequence to help a child get to the edge of a pool or shore of a pond/lake. Lessons are 10 minutes each, 5 days a week for 4-6 weeks, and parents learn a lot about swimming safety as well through interacting with the instructor and the parents' resource handbook.
While it can be tough watching your child through the first several lessons especially -- many kids cry or fuss due to the completely new situation they're put in, seeing your child learning life-saving skills is really rewarding. The instructors take great care to insure the childrens' safety and personalize the intensity and duration of the lesson (up to 10 min.) depending on how the child is doing that day. I also love that the lessons are one-on-one; my child has her instructor's full attention, and in the case of our instructor training a new instructor, 2 on one.
Yes, it's a bit pricey. Yes, you keep a log of your child's eating, sleeping, pooping, etc. each day to help the instructor determine what is the safest and best way to handle your child's lesson each day. But knowing what she's learning could one day save her life in a situation as common as falling into a pool is priceless.
Here's a short clip of Li'l Girlie's 6th lesson. You can tell she's already digging it. :)
We ended up doing our ISR lessons through Safe Start, a unique drowning prevention effort in central and south Florida that partners with community centers like YMCAs and JCCs. We have a YMCA 10 minutes from our house with an indoor pool, so it's a sweet situation. For those of you who wonder why an indoor pool is important to me...Central FL late spring/early summer afternoons = thunderstorms. Not so swim-friendly.
I've had some great conversations with Li'l Girlie over the last week since she talks about swimming lessons a ton during the day. My favorite: 'swim underwawa touch fish, pop up see mama' (swimming to the wall where there's a fish decal, then pulling up on the wall to see me sitting there cheering her on). That, and 'more swim underwawa please.'
