She teaches self-rescue swimming lessons for kids
“My husband and daughter did the daddy-and-me swim class when she was young. I remember him putting her under water. I freaked out. I had a hard time with it, feeling anxious with children and their safety. But now here I am, all these years later, teaching self-rescue swim lessons for kids 6 months through 6 years old.
As a certified Infant Swimming Resource instructor, Teresa Rising teaches young people how to be safe and enjoy the water.
“So far this year I have been able to skill 78 children to be safe and save themselves in the water. I never let myself think of it like I’m saving kids’ lives, because that part is a little bit emotional for me. I know the pain of blaming yourself when you lose a child. Having lost six kids (to miscarriages), I beat myself up quite a bit. So it just seems like I’ve been preparing myself to do something like this. And I love it.
“I just got back from Florida, where I was learning from the gentleman who started ISR (Infant Swimming Rescource). His story is that he was 18 years old when he came home one day and found the neighbor kid drowned in a gully outside of his home. That’s where the passion to start this came from.
“Through this program, the goal is that not one more child drowns. Drowning is the number one cause of accidental death in children under the age of 5, and it’s completely preventable.
“I love the water. I love how it feels to be in the water. It’s neat to see how many kids are naturally drawn to it. They don’t naturally swim, but now they can be given the skills to be safe and to enjoy it.”
— Teresa Rising
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