Mum criticised for swim survival lessons after son drowned

Mum criticised for swim survival lessons after son drowned

A grieving mother has been criticised after she launched toddler swimming lessons which have been labelled by some as 'distressing.'

Emma Aspinall, 33, launched swim survival lessons after her son Loui, aged two, drowned in 2013 while on a family holiday in Tunisia.

Mrs Aspinall launched the swim survival lessons, in which toddlers and babies are dropped into water and taught to roll onto their backs in an effort to save other children from drowning. 

She shared the video on her Facebook page. 

But the lessons have been criticised by experts, with some people calling them 'harmful' and 'distressing'. 

Organisations, including Swim Engla nd and the Royal Life Saving Society UK, have warned parents against classes that aim to teach young children to rescue themselves by rolling on to their backs in water.   

But Mrs Aspinall is adamant that the method can save lives. 

Loui Aspinall, 2, drowned while on a family holiday in Tunisia after he followed his unaware father into the swimming pool, an inquest has heard

After her son's death, she researched children's water safety courses and found a programme in America teaching children to 'self-rescue'. 

She raised more than £10,000 to complete the course and she and now teaches the swim survival course near her home in Wigan. 

She said that the had been practised in the United States for more than 25 years and that there are at least five other classes teaching it in the UK now.

She said that she knew that the technique was controversial but after three years of research into it and she decided that it ultimately saved lives. 

But criticism has erupted of the technique after she shared a video online o f her teaching a small boy by repeatedly dropping him in a pool while he cries. 

The toddler was pulled from the water at the Houda Golf and Beach Resort in Skanes, near Tunisian tourist resort Monastir

But she defended the technique, saying that children cry when they're out of their comfort zone but that is part of learning in life. 

'They cry when we take them for vaccinations but we still do it,' she said. 

Françoise Freedman, a medical anthropologist at the University of Cambridge and an expert on baby swimming, wrote a critical report, called Sink or Swim, Drown-Proofing Teaching Methodologies.

She said: '[Forcing] a baby or toddler to float relies on extreme traumatic methods and, sadly, no amount of praise will compensate for the memory of inflicted pain â€" it just gets pushed into the recesses of our brain, where it is recorded.'

She said that for some children such 'trauma' could lead to a fear of water, the Times reports.

Paul Thompson, co-founder of the swimming class company Water Babies, said: 'We are aware of the distress to children the self-rescue technique can cause and regard it as an aggressive, unproven method to make babies 'drown-proof' .'  

The inquest into the boy's deaths heard there was a 'tragic misunderstanding' between his parents Emma Hollingsworth and Gavin Aspinall (pictured arriving at Bolton Coroners Court)

Mrs Aspinall started teaching in April and said her students illustrate how effective her programme is.

'One of my four-year-old students went on holiday and slipped into the pool and instantly got on to her float position,' she told The Times. 

'I would also like to see evidence of the so-called children that have been affected badly later on in life by these lessons. I have videos that show the kids happy in their lessons.'

Lesley Jalloh, 33, is a neighbour of Emma's and the mum of the boy featured in the swim survival video. She supports the technique and said that it saves lives.

'Matthew started h is lessons a few weeks before his second birthday and completed in his own clothes on his actual birthday. A two-year-old floating on his back knowing that's how he can breath. That's just amazing,' shje tole the Manchester Evening News.

  

 

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