Watch Me Swim | Riverview | Tampa
Watch Me Swim (WMS) was founded more than 19 years ago by Kari Bahour after her infant son experienced a “near drowning” incident.
Thankfully her son survived without complications. In concern for her son’s safety, Kari researched several swim programs looking for one that would teach “competence” in the water before instilling “confidence”.
After her son’s experience, she knew all too well how easy a curious toddler can briefly escape supervision and end up in a dangerous situation. After doing her own research and receiving a recommendation from her neighbor, Kari enrolled her 16 month old son in the ISR infant self-rescue swim program. Amazed at the aquatic problem solving skills her son learned in just a few short weeks, she passionately pursued becoming a survival swimming instructor to provide these essential lifesaving skills to more children.
About Kari Bahour
In 2000, Kari was accepted into the ISR Instructor Training and Development program. To date, she had the privilege and honor of teaching survival swimming skills to thousands of infants and young children. In 2008, she was selected to undergo additional training to become an ISR Master Instructor and train and develop new survival swimming instructors nationwide. In addition to training more than 20 new instructors in Florida, Louisiana, Montana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania & Delaware, Kari served as a professional mentor and contributed extensively to the overall operation and expansion of Infant Swimming Resource (ISR).
Wanting to give back to her community, in 2014 Kari founded a nonprofit organization called Water Smart Tots, Inc.. Water Smart Tots is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating early childhood drowning in the Greater Tampa Bay area. Watch Me Swim, Inc. is a proud sponsor of Water Smart Tots, Inc. To learn more about Water Smart Tots, Inc., please visit www.WaterSmartTots.org.
Kari has been featured and recognized on many media outlets including Fox 13’s Whats Right with Tampa Bay in 2016, Bay News 9 Community Hero and WFLA Daytime TV Show. She has also been nominated for several awards including WEDU’s Be More Awards. To view more, click here: watersmarttots.org
Kari is 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 just to name a few.
Jamie EmmonsMy son Chase (age 2) just completed lessons with Ashley, and he can’t get enough of the water now! Ashley was fantastic and knew all the right techniques to make sure Chase was comfortable and confident. It was amazing to watch him transform into a swimmer in 6 short weeks! We would recommend Ashley for anyone (of all ages!) who wants to learn how to swim. As a parent, I felt confident taking Chase swimming on my own and knowing he has all the right survival skills. Thank you so much!
Samantha LevinMy 2.5 year old son took his first round of survival swim lessons with Michelle in Westmont in the winter. We just finished our refresher course last week & she was as incredible as ever. Throughout both sets of lessons, he could not wait to get there and see Miss Shell. He still asks to go even though the lessons are over. She is so kind, welcoming, patient, and makes every lesson fun while teaching life saving skills. He would be smiling & laughing the entire time. If you are hesitant about these lessons at all, don’t think twice again and sign your child up!
Sara GrayI am so incredibly happy to have found Michelle at Watch Me Swim. My daughter not only learned to save herself, but also learned to love the water. She couldn’t wait for her lessons and smiled the whole time. I couldn’t believe it! I cannot recommend Michelle enough. She is kind, gentle, and loved by her little swimmers! I am forever grateful to her for keeping my baby girl safe!
Taylor TompkinsWe had an amazing experience with Mrs. Ashley in Fishhawk! She was communicative and patient! She helped make my baby feel comfortable in the water and supported through his frustrations. My 1 year old can now self rescue and float on his own! I am amazed! I highly recommend Mrs. Ashley and Watch me Swim!!
Kelly LauxMy son started taking classes with Ms. Ashley in FishHawk at 9 months and we are so grateful for her! He did not catch on right away and took some extra time to graduate but she was so incredibly patient with him and encouraging. Any time something came up, she was very flexible and understanding. I am so happy we signed up with Watch Me Swim and Ms. Ashley! I feel so much better knowing he has skills to survive around water if something happened. We will continue to work with her in the future for his follow up classes and swim lessons and look forward to seeing her again!
Allie estradaWe just finished the 6 week survival swim class with Ashley, and it has been amazing! She is so sweet and patient with my 17 month old, who would cry the whole time. She was able to learn what she needed to, and was so proud of herself! I have so much more confidence, that she will know what to do if she ever finds herself in a situation where she falls into water! Nothing compares to that peace of mind that Ashley has given us! We will be back in the future as she gets older to become an even better swimmer!
Grace TekampeI can’t say enough wonderful things about Ms. Kari and her program! Her passion and care for teaching children how to swim is evident not only in the care and 1:1 instruction she provides for our littles, but in the way she’s opened this scholarship up so everybody has a chance to learn how to swim! My daughter is on the ASD spectrum and these are crucial life-saving skills, especially with her diagnosis and living in a state surrounded by water everywhere! I had a teacher whose two-year-old drowned in a pool because he didn’t know how to self-rescue and that was my worst fear. My daughter stopped crying after the first week of lessons and started waking up asking to “swim in Ms. Kari’s pool” every morning, which is a very different experience from the one we previously had! She loves going swimming and practicing her “big arms” and is a little fish in the pool now. Thank you for everything you do for our children, Kari and Watch Me Swim!
Corrie LovetteWe had an amazing experience with Mrs. Lindsey! It was organized, efficient and as pleasant as swim/survival lessons can possibly be for a 13 month old. My little girl can safely float now, which gives us peace of mind! Plus she has a great foundation for future swimming. I highly recommend Mrs. Lindsey and Watch Me Swim!
Rebeca BoyceExcellent and effective place if you want your kids to learn how to swim and survival skills in the water, Ms Kari and Ms Heidi were the instructor of my daughters, 5 and 9 Y/O , they learned in only 4 weeks, amazing work these ladies put on, my kids were not confident at all in the water and they are now swimming all on their own, the classes are great because is one on one which I love, that also gives you privacy since no one else is there watching but the students and parents, ( my kids are shy) I have nothing to say but good stuff, Absolutely recommended.
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