Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a mother who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a woman and a mother. Above all, the Mom of the Month is dedicated to her children. Rich or poor, famous or not, she shines as an example of what mothering is all about.

Meet September’s Mom of the Month, Kim Leonard who, with her husband, Stew Leonard, Jr., founded the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation after losing their 21-month-old son in a drowning accident. They have also written two acclaimed books on water safety. The first, Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim (Kimberly Press, 2002), received a National Water Safety Youth Education Award from the National Water Safety Congress and is used in water safety courses throughout the country. Their most recent book is Swimming Lessons With Stewie the Duck (Kimberly Press, 2005), which addresses the importance of learning some basic water survival skills.

The books, Leonard is quick to note, are fun for kids and can teach some valuable lessons, but the real message they’re trying to get out is aimed at adults. “I want parents to understand how quickly this can happen and the importance of absolute and constant vigilance around water," says Leonard, of Westport, Conn. “I grew up around water and we have a pool, and water ski – we love the water – and yet I was so naïve about how quickly something like this could happen."

In the Leonards’ case, they were preparing for their daughter’s birthday party, and adults and children were everywhere. Young Stew had been outside with his father who was hanging decorations. When the child wandered off, Stew Jr. assumed he had gone to find his mother who was inside preparing food. In the confusion, the baby wandered into the pool. He was unattended for less than two minutes, but that was enough.

After their son’s death, the Leonards discovered that drowning is the leading cause of death in children under 5, and 80 percent of children under 4 drown in residential swimming pools. Approximately 75 percent of drownings occur under a brief lapse of parental supervision, usually less than five minutes. Sadly, in spite of campaigns such as the Leonards’, it remains a leading cause of accidental death in children.

Saving Lives
Stunned by how this could have happened to them in spite of the fact that they were attentive parents and very conscious about water safety, Kim and Stew were determined to do something to spread the word and save other parents from this tragedy. Since its founding in 1990, the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation has become a significant force in helping to educate children and adults about water safety.

The idea for the books came from Stew Leonard’s interaction with his daughters. “Stew would always make little books to explain things to our daughters," says Leonard. “One time our daughter was sleeping and fell out of bed and hit her head. The doctor explained to her that while it was healing she would have to stay out of the sun. Stew wrote this whole little book about Mr. Sun and they had so much fun doing it that it just morphed into Stewie the Duck."

Kim and Stew wrote the book together with input from their daughters, and tested it on their daughter’s classmates. After it was published, Kim received a letter from a mother that she’s never forgotten.

“The woman wrote to us that she and her daughter had been grocery shopping and she told her daughter that she would take her swimming when the groceries were put away," says Leonard. “The little girl went upstairs to get ready, or so her mom thought. All of a sudden the back door opened and the mother’s heart almost stopped, realizing that the girl had managed to get outside through a door she thought was locked. The little girl came in and said to her mom, ‘I’m not supposed to be near the water without an adult watching me.’ She had learned that from our book."

The impetus for the second book was also reader feedback from the first. Many people noted that young children are often afraid of swimming lessons, so the Leonard’s decided to address that topic.

Both books use simple songs and text to focus on three basic lessons. In the first one, the three points are aimed at basic water safety: Don’t jump in the water until you learn to swim, always wear a flotation device and never go near the water without an adult. In the second book, the lessons are aimed at saving children if they do fall in. Children are encouraged to blow bubbles if they do fall in, roll over on their backs and float and kick their way to the side of the pool.

“The first thing a child does when he or she falls in the water is panic and inhale," says Leonard. “Once the water is in their lungs it becomes a critical situation and it’s very difficult to save them, especially the younger they are. While there’s no substitute for constant adult supervisions, these skills may give the child that extra minute or so necessary to save a life."

A Family Affair
The entire Leonard family has been involved in the books and in the foundation, and Kim, in particular, helps out a lot during the foundation’s busy season. Her primary job, however, has always been raising her four daughters, Blake, 19, Alexandra, 15, Chase, 14, and Madison, 10. Just in the past few years she feels that she finally has the flexibility to do something outside of her family without neglecting them, and has gotten involved in something that she really enjoys through her husband’s latest business – a chain of wine stores.

“They were looking for someone to learn more about the basics of wine and Stew suggested that perhaps I would be interested," says Kim. “I took courses through the Wine and Spirit Education Trust out of London, England, and eventually earned an advanced certification. Now I plan to take lessons from a sommelier to learn more about wine and food pairings in the hopes of helping to educate our wine store employees so they can better help customers choose the right wine."

It’s not been easy to take on an unfamiliar subject, and she laughingly compares it to getting another college degree, but she’s loved stretching her intellect on something with such a noble history. “I enjoy my family very much, but I’ve just began to realize how much I’ve enjoyed the challenge of studying and learning," says Kim. “It’s been a wonderful experience for me and I’m excited to take my learning in a direction that promises to be even more interesting."

Want to see more?

• Meet August 2005's Mom of the Month: Evelyn Ain
• Meet July 2005's Mom of the Month: Emily Lord
• Meet June 2005's Mom of the Month: Rita Faith Scott
• Learn about other Moms of the Month here!
• Talk about it!