ISR Central Iowa

Granger Smith's wife, Amber Smith, partners with drowning prevention organization to drive awareness Amber and Granger Smith are outspoken about water safety and drowning prevention after the drowning loss of their 3-year-old son River. Today, Amber is partnering with the NDPA to bring awareness.

Most beautiful sight 😍

Happy Easter ✝️

”If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.“
‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬

As an infant, T learned to rollback and float, waiting for help incase he ever needed. Now he is back to learn a sequence of swim, floating for good breathes and rest, back to a swim. Soon he will be able to get himself safely out of water 🩵

Drowning is the #1 reason why a child wouldn’t make it to kindergarten. Praise God that Forrest will get to go to kindergarten next year but it isn’t without suffering the reality of drowning.

First day of spring session! I cannot wait to see these sweet littles showing off their skills in a few weeks 🩵

If you have already received an email regarding registration, you are on my list. If you want more information about ISR, please email [email protected]

This is my only session for 2024 for new students. I will not be doing a summer session this year.

SPRING REGISTRATION OPENS MONDAY!

Lessons will start March 18th at Wyndham Garden Hotel in Ankeny. Your child will attend Monday through Friday for 5-8 weeks, until they have learned the skills needed for an aquatic emergency.

Everyone on my email list will receive the link to claim a lesson time on Monday morning. If you are not on my list and want information, please email me at [email protected]
iowa and I are partnering together for this session so we will have double the lessons available!! 🙌🏼

Current swim families, there will be refresher slots available as well! It will be mid February when I release those ☺️

Just finished Like a River. I started reading the hard copy but had to switch to the audiobook a chapter in. My eyes couldn’t even see the pages behind all the tears. The parallels between their story and ours are unbelievable. The feeling of absolutely joy of having the “perfect family”, our dreams coming true with living on the perfect 20 acres—timber, rolling hills, a pond, hay field, hiking trails, goats, chickens and dogs, plans to build our dream house there that next year and give away the mobile home for the next family to enjoy, then tragedy struck when we found our son face down in the pond. Forrest survived his drowning but has a severe brain injury. We live with this pain every single day in a different way than Granger and but suffering regardless. Fast forward, we are in our temporary home, still looking for that next piece of land to raise our kids on. With plans to get an RV and travel for months to simply put away all the distractions of this life and enjoy one another and God’s beautiful creation. I still question why this had to happen to our son, why our other kids have to endure this trauma, and why us? Why anyone? But I rest knowing that my God is good. He has a purpose through all this suffering. I can look back and see all his blessings despite the circumstance. Grief and joy can coexist because my joy and peace come from the Lord. Thank you for sharing your heart Granger 🤍

VOTE FOR #7! ISR Central Iowa’s cutest little flamingo ever 🦩 🩷

(Voting is very easy!)

Vote for Your Favorite "Costume" Float We are so excited to launch the Live Like Jake's "Favorite Costume Float" Contest sponsored by Life Saver Pool Fence. Please scroll through them all and vote for your favorite(s)! * The top three will win some awesome prizes so be sure to share with your friends and family! *You can vote for as many...

Happy first day of school to all my big swim kids 🤍

This year I have one in 2nd, 1st, P4 and P3. I will be student teaching with 5th graders for a semester before getting back to the pool 📚 ✏️

What to do on a hot summer weekend with your little ones, especially if there are more of them than there are adult arms?! 🤷‍♀️

The splash pad or a sprinkler are just as much fun for them as a pool and WAY easier for you, especially if you are outnumbered! Even if your kiddos are skilled, these types of environments enable kids to interact with water in a safe way. And you can keep cool, while keeping your cool…win win! 😉

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!☀️💦🥰

Two of five of my nieces and nephews who recently learned to self rescue with Quad Cities ISR 😍

Floating can be some family fun 🥰

Happy Fourth of July! 🇺🇸

Layers of Protection - NDPA Drowning is the single leading cause of death for children ages 1–4. It could happen to anyone, but the risk is greatest for young children.

One of the most beautiful sights 🥹

There are many layers to aquatic safety. One important layer is barriers. If your pool doesn’t have an automatic cover, you should *strongly* consider investing in a pool fence. Kids are fast and can sneak out of your home in seconds. The CDC states that completely isolating a pool with a fence reduces the risk of drowning by 83%… not all fences are made the same so make sure it is a pool fence that little toes can’t climb!

Thankful for my swim family sharing photos of their new install! They are practicing many layers of protection through adult supervision, a pool fence, and aquatic survival skills for their daughter 🩵

There is no more availability for new students in 2023. Email me for more details on ISR and to stay up to date on my 2024 schedule.
[email protected]

Don’t forget the layers of protection are necessary for everyone, even skilled children!
1. Effective adult supervision
2. Barriers (pool fence, pool cover, alarms, locks)
3. Survival swim skills
4. Know CPR

You can reach out to the other local instructors to check their availability as well!
[email protected] (WDM & Southside)
[email protected] (Ames)

“The reason why we say there's no one single means of preventing drowning entirely is because all of these layers can break down and the supervision layer can break down quite easily,” he told USA TODAY. “With just a 20 to 30 second lapse in supervision, a drowning can take place.”

'I had the number one killer in my backyard': What a mom whose son drowned wishes she knew “I had the number one killer in my backyard,” Amber Smith said. "We didn't realize what we needed most of all was for them to be able to self-rescue.”

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend as you reflect and remember those who lost their lives for our country 🇺🇸

Remember, don’t just sit on the pool deck. Being in the pool WITH your child is an easy way to show them that they can only be in the water with you.

Target floaties good for pool time! ☀️ 🏊 🌴

Puddle jumpers, life vests, and floaties with leg holes promote a vertical posture, also known as the “drowning position.” Floatation devices subconsciously “train” your children to be in an upright, vertical position in the water. It trains them to “swim” with their head out of the water and their legs kicking below and creates muscle memory to have this posture in the water. Young children DO NOT have the cognitive abilities to recognize that they would not be able to breathe in this position without this device.

If your child is skilled in survival swimming, we want to ensure we honor the skills they know. It will be incredibly confusing and frustrating for them to come back for maintenance lessons and swim without these devices.

If your child is not skilled in survival swimming, we want to ensure we don’t train their body to go vertical.

PLEASE reach out with any questions 😊one of the major things we wish we would have learned before we did..