Every day, parents must guide their children through the world, instilling in them fundamental skills and values. From teaching their kids how to eat, sleep, and read, to learning manners and etiquette, parents are the first and most vital teachers in a child's life.

However, when it comes to teaching children how to swim, many parents today lack the confidence to teach. They often find themselves on the swimming pool sidelines letting professional swim instructors and swim schools take on the teaching task alone, believing that only the professionals possess the expertise to instill this life-saving skill.  

But now, Mikaela Rice of Gilbert — a wife and mother of three young children, ages 4½, 3, and 1 — is on a personal mission to empower other parents out there to be more actively involved in teaching their children how to swim. Not as a replacement for swim lessons and swim schools, but as an additional and powerful resource to support their children in learning how to swim.  

Mikaela Rice is a mother of three and former competitive swimmer now giving swim instruction. (Bailey Deane/Special for The Independent)

This former competitive swimmer and swim instructor is a believer that every child must be taught how to swim at an early age. She also believes that parents should play an active part in this process, through additional lessons, practicing what their children have already been taught, and teaching swim and pool safety. 

With those beliefs in mind, Rice recently decided to take the plunge into starting an all-new, online swim teaching course called Kids in the Water that offers seven, easy-to-follow swim lesson videos aimed at teaching parents with toddlers, ages 2 and up, how to teach their children to swim.

Rice and her children are featured in the instructional videos that include audio and video content and PDF summaries of the swim lessons. 

Parents from anywhere will be able to learn from Rice and feel with the idea of making it as if they have their own private, supportive swim instructor guiding them. The cost for the Kids in the Water swim training course is $74.99. 

“Kids in the Water has been specially designed to help parents teach their own children how to swim confidently and safely,” Rice said. “I cover everything from water safety to basic free style, with step-by-step video tutorials … for parents who are proficient swimmers themselves and want to help their children learn to swim as well, I highly recommend taking this course.” 

The four focus areas include: building a child’s confidence in the water, teaching skills and techniques, pool and water safety, and making parent-child swim lessons fun. 

Launched online in May, Kids in the Water has already begun to make a big splash on social media with more than one million views of Rice’s first social media posts.

Her first Facebook post was Rice explaining her "No. 1 rule for the pool,” which is teaching children to always ask their parents first before they jump in the pool or even go near the pool.

Teaching toddlers to always ask permission first before jumping in the water is crucial, she said. 

There are also two sobering statistics that all parents should know: According to the World Health Organization, drowning is a leading cause of unintentional injury death for children aged 1-14 years, and there are an estimated 236,000 annual drowning deaths worldwide. 

“It is an incredibly sad and preventable number,” Rice said, “and these alarming statistics highlight the crucial importance of equipping our children with swimming skills to keep them safer around water.”  

In summing it up, Rice said swim lessons are incredibly important.

"Whether you enroll your child in a swim school, hire a private instructor, or sign up for Kids in the Water online, parents will never regret ensuring their child is safe and prepared for being in and around water," she said. "Whichever swim teaching method you choose, making the time and effort to ensure your child learns to swim, and supporting them through the journey, will be one of the most rewarding and beneficial things you ever do for your child.”  

More information about Kids in the Water is available by visiting www.kidsinthewater.com