Image Swimming in Brooklyn is teaching kids how to be comfortable in the water while wearing regular clothes.
A swim instruction program in New York, is teaching kids how to swim while wearing regular clothes.
More parents are signing up their children for swim lessons where they learn to swim in their clothes in case they ever accidentally fall into the water. These lessons aim to teach children what to do if such an incident occurs and how they can save themselves.
If a child falls into the water with their clothes on, they can easily panic and drown, Morgan Harkness, a swim instructor of Brooklyn's Image Swimming program, tells Inside Edition.
The fully clothed 6-year-olds enrolled in the program are taught to be comfortable in the water.
“It’s difficult to swim with clothes on; it’s so heavy,” Harkness says. “It adds a little bit of extra weight.”
One mother says this class helped save her daughter’s life.
Saundra Davis’ daughter fell into their backyard pool with her clothes on. “She went to the bottom and swam back to the top and was able to scream for help and then my husband heard her,” Davis tells Inside Edition.
Davis’ daughter had taken the course and knew what to do. “I knew how to swim,” Davis’ daughter says.
They are also taught an easy-to-remember catchphrase to get out of a pool: “elbow, elbow, tummy, knees.”
