We've been swimming almost every week since he was born and he is like a cute little frog. He experiences a different way of moving around in the water, he finds the echo sounds exciting, and he tries to copy the bigger children. Today he decided he could swim: With just my one hand under his tummy, he did a kind of modified breast-stroke. I am so proud of him!
From our photo shoot back when my son was 5 months old |
There are lots of baby swim classes available, but we didn't want to stick to one set time (plus most of them are quite expensive), so I got this book out from my local library: How to Teach Your Baby to Swim: From Birth to Age Six. It gave me a lot of confidence. The most important lesson by far was to be calm, never to show panic, even if your baby gets dunked by mistake or splashed by some naughty 5-year-old! They will feel safe and secure if you always act like they are.
When we're in the pool my attention is 100% there, all the other things on my mind seem to melt away. Every second I am aware of everything my son does and we have real quality time together. I chat with other parents too, and try out new baby swimming activities with them. The baby pool is (almost a bit anyway!) like a hot pool in a health-spa and life really is good fun and relaxing while we're there.
Are any of my readers such manic baby-swimming fans as me? I can't recommend it highly enough!
great post...Ive been waiting to get my son a list for one of those organised swimming courses but reading this has given me more confidence to do it myself...Hope I haven't waited too long :( He's 6 mths already!
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