baby

Her son drowned. Now she's posted video of her daughter struggling in a pool.

 

 

Teaching a child to swim is considered to be a fundamental part of modern parenting. So why did one mother face so much backlash when she posted a video to Facebook of her infant daughter at a swimming lesson?

US woman Keri Morrison has faced a tirade after posting a video of her 13-month-old daughter, who was six-months-old at the time, struggling to stay afloat in a pool. This is because Morrison’s two-year-old son tragically died in a drowning incident in 2013.

The video, uploaded by Facebook user ‘DOV’, shows the infant grabbing for a toy that’s out of her reach and falling face first into the water. The little girl is seen struggling to keep her head afloat while the person filming remains calm and does not intervene.

You can watch the video below. Post continues after video. 

Video via DOV

The clip, which is captioned ‘so hard to watch but every kid should learn this young’ has been viewed nearly 600,000 times. Facebook users have given mixed emotions to the video, with some agreeing the child was not in any danger and some saying they have ‘mixed emotions’.

“This baby has obviously gone through infant safety self rescue classes,” Facebook user, Erin Gooch said.

“I don’t see this as cruel. If this baby ever fell into a body of water, she would be able to save herself long enough for someone to come help her. A bigger shame is all the kids who are never taught these skills and who drown in pools and other bodies of water.”

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Keri Morrison (in blue) being interviewed on Fox News. Image via Fox News.

This comment hit close to home for Morrison, who spoke to Fox News about the video. Morrison says the reason she's so passionate about water safety is because her son Jake drowned when he was two, and so she 'knows the alternative'.

"My son is no longer here because he didn't have these skills. I'm protecting her and that's what a parent is supposed to do, protect their child," Morrison told Fox News.

"I feel like I failed my son and I'm not going to fail my daughter."