AUDREY Roloff’s two young children “graduated” from their controversial swimming lessons on Friday.
The Little People, Big World star sparked outrage after filming her sobbing one-year-old son Bode trying to swim in the pool without any floats.
But Audrey, 29, brushed the controversy aside as she celebrated Bode and her daughter Ember, three, finishing their course.
She shared a snap of them floating on their backs in the pool next to their swimming instructor.
The reality star – who is pregnant with her third child – captioned it: “Officially have two excellent floaters and graduates” and added a clapping hands emoji.
Audrey enrolled her children in ISR lessons – which is an “infant swimming resource self-rescue program” – earlier this month.
The aim is to teach babies as young as six months old what to do if they fall in the pool.
Instructors teach kids to turn over and float on their backs if they fall in a pool and can’t swim.
The training consists of five-minute classes for five days a week for up to six weeks.
She explained it was “super-important” for her to do so because her parents have a pool and because in Oregon – where she’s based – it’s not compulsory for pools to have security measures like gates or alarms.
Aubrey filmed Bode’s progress across two weeks, sharing several clips of the toddler screaming in the pool with an instructor.
Bode looked visibly distressed in the videos, splashing around and crying as an instructor taught him how to float.
Audrey admitted that Bode’s screaming was “hard” to watch – but insisted the lessons are “worth it”.
She tried to prove that the baby wasn’t in distress by sharing photos after the lesson of him laughing and playing.
Despite her efforts, viewers were horrified by the “cruel” footage of Bode screaming while submerged in the water.
“Having them go through this amount of trauma is DISGUSTING. This is a wonderful way of instilling fear and insecurity in your baby,” one wrote.
“The saddest part is that he will never know why he doesn’t trust you as a mom, bc he’s too little to remember this, but those feelings of fear will linger in his brain.”
