A mother from Colorado is defending infant swim lessons this week after a video of her 8-month-old son being thrown into the pool by his swim instructor went viral.
Krysta Meyer, whose 8-month-old son, Oliver is in an Infant Survival class at Little Fins Swim School in Colorado Springs, posted a video on TikTok that has since stirred a lot of controversy.
The clip, which has been viewed over 53 million times on TikTok, shows Oliver’s swim instructor tossing him into the pool, then climbing in to guide him as he floats to the surface. After navigating the water for just a second, Oliver resurfaces before flipping onto his back so he can breathe and continue floating.
“Oliver amazes me every week!” Meyer captioned the now-viral video. “I can’t believe he is barely 2 months in [to swimming lessons] and is catching on so fast. He is a little fish.”
Alarmed by the video, many commenters reacted with anger and accusations. Some people were so upset that Meyer has even received death threats.
The 27-year-old mother of two says she understands why people are bothered by the video when seeing it out of context, but feels the method is appropriate in the context in which it was done.
“I get it, it looks bad. It’s not for everyone,” Meyer told Motherly, adding that any buzz that gets parents talking about children and water safety could save lives.
It’s also important to know that the swim lessons Oliver participates in are specifically designed for Infant Survival, not to be confused with Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) lessons, which does not involve throwing a baby into pools.
“Your baby will never be thrown into the water,” the ISR website states in several places.
Little Fins co-owner, Lauri Armstrong, says the purpose behind these survival swim classes like the one Oliver participates in, is purely safety. “We teach 8-month-olds to assess their situation and find an exit strategy [in water],” she told Buzzfeed News. “I know it seems crazy.”
The goal is not to teach the infants how to swim, but to get them comfortable in water, to learn how to recover and flip over if they fall in, and to float on their backs. Armstrong also noted that the toss is not something that happens in the first lesson, and like anything, infants have to learn.
