About Watch Me Swim
Watch Me Swim was founded 25 years ago by Kari Bahour after her infant son experienced a "non-fatal drowning" incident.
Watch Me Swim was founded over 25 years ago with a clear mission to teach infants and young children real self rescue skills that can save their lives.
Since 2000, Watch Me Swim has become a trusted leader in survival swim instruction, helping thousands of children develop the skills needed to safely navigate the water.
Our approach is built on individualized, one on one instruction that meets each child where they are. Every lesson is designed to develop real ability in the water through a proven progression of skills.
We focus on competence first because true confidence comes from knowing what to do in a real situation.
This is not traditional swim instruction. This is survival swimming where children learn to roll, float, breathe, and recover independently.
At Watch Me Swim, children develop real skills in the water, giving families confidence that goes beyond the pool.
About Kari Bahour
In 2000, Kari Bahour was accepted into the Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) Instructor Training and Development program. Since then, she has had the privilege of teaching survival swimming skills to thousands of infants and young children. In 2008, she underwent additional training to become an ISR Master Instructor, enabling her to train and develop new survival swimming instructors nationwide. To date, Kari has trained more than 20 instructors across Florida, Louisiana, Montana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. She has also served as a professional mentor and contributed extensively to the operation and expansion of ISR.
In 2014, wanting to give back to her community, Kari founded a nonprofit organization called Water Smart Tots, Inc., dedicated to eliminating early childhood drowning in the Greater Tampa Bay area. Watch Me Swim, LLC. proudly sponsors Water Smart Tots. For more information about the nonprofit, visit watersmarttots.org.
Kari has been featured in various media outlets, including Fox 13’s “What’s Right with Tampa Bay” in 2016, Bay News 9 Community Hero, and WFLA Daytime TV Show. She has also received multiple nominations for awards such as WEDU’s Be More Awards.
An active member of the Hillsborough County Water Safety Team, the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, Safe Kids Greater Tampa Bay, and the U.S. Swim School Association, Kari continues to advocate for water safety and drowning prevention in her community.
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