My little swimmer – Mummascribbles

I’ve always been keen to get Zach in the swimming pool. How to swim and be safe in water is one of the most important things that we can teach our children. I’ve never been a keen swimmer and still to this day hugely dislike putting my head under water. When my parents first tried to put me into swimming lessons, I had a little trial in my sister’s lesson to see how I’d get on. I can’t remember how old I was but I still remember it now, screaming so much and getting into such a panic that I was removed from the pool. From that, I never did my own swimming lessons and it wasn’t until I was around the age of 11, that my dad would take me to the pool on a Sunday morning and try to teach me, just so I had some knowledge of being safe in water!

I’ve got better over the years, I can now happily tread water, I can swim a fair few lengths of the pool in breaststroke (with my head firmly above the water!), and I show no fear in front of Zach, happily pretending to be a shark and catching him with my legs. It’s because of my own initial fear though, that I am so keen for Zach to be a confident swimmer. Had we have been able to afford it, I would have enrolled him onto a Waterbabies class when he was tiny. Sadly, when you are on statutory maternity pay, such things are simply not possible to do!

We actually left it longer than I wanted to before we first took him swimming. The first time he went in a pool was when we were on holiday two years ago in a holiday home that came with one. He had one of those sit in swimming seats and the first time, absolutely loved it.

The second time however wasn’t as good and he cried a lot. And the third time exactly the same. It wasn’t a great start!

Once we were back, we didn’t really go again until just over a year ago. We started taking him every couple of weeks and every time was painful because he hated being put in the water! He screamed (a bit like I did back in the day only I was way older!) and we’d have to take his dummy in with us to calm him down. Once he was in for a good ten minutes, he’d be fine, spit his dummy out and happily splash around. At that point he didn’t have armbands so we held him and he never wanted to let go. He would cling onto us like an ape, wrapping his arms and legs around us to feel safe. Slowly, as we started going more regular, he got a bit better, we no longer needed the dummy, he’d still cry at the getting in part (sometimes I want to shriek at the coldness of the water!), but it would be over in seconds. Then he got really confident and started wanting to splash around on his own. At that point we introduced armbands and that’s when things really started changing.

First of all he didn’t like the armbands but then were he realised that if he was wearing them, he didn’t need to cling onto us and that he could float and not sink, he loved them. Slowly, the confidence of this boy started to appear.

When we are in the pool, we are always encouraging him to swim, trying to show him how to move his arms and legs in order to get anywhere. At the beginning, it was hard. His little legs didn’t quite have the coordination to make him move anywhere and he had no idea how to make them work for him. We kept helping him and kept showing him in the hope that he would eventually pick it up.

Over the winter, we went less (it’s much harder when it’s cold and raining!), and we picked it back up a few weeks ago when the weather improved. Thankfully, Zach hasn’t forgotten that he enjoyed it and other than the not liking the initial getting in the water and clinging onto daddy whilst he walks him further into the pool, he’s been loving going and asks every week if we can go. Since we started up again, his coordination is far better and yes, my boy can now do doggy paddle. He kicks his legs and moves his arms with such rhythm that he’s actually quite speedy and we are all surprised and elated when he swims half a width to get to the set of ladders he likes to climb out of. He’s like a little fish!

Yesterday we had another breakthrough in our getting him confident in water plan. Daddy had gone for a last minute wee before we got in (after I’d had mine!), and so Zach and I went through to the pool ourselves. I don’t know if he relates getting in the pool to having daddy as safety, but instead of being carried, he held my hand, walked down the steps and straight into the water where he proceeded to jump around like he does once the tears and moaning have faded. The other half was walking behind us and we looked at each other in disbelief!

And the other breakthrough we’ve had is him swimming in his back. Trying to get him to lay on his back has been hard, I completely understand it because it doesn’t feel natural and so it’s a scary feeling. We could not get him to do it up until a couple of weeks ago when suddenly he did it all by himself proclaiming ‘look, I’m on my back’! And yesterday he did it some more, this time kicking his legs and making himself move backwards.

To say I am chuffed with his progress in the pool is an understatement. He has come on in leaps and bounds and I can see that he has the potential to be a really strong swimmer. The next thing we have to conquer is the same fear that I have, of going under water! He’s been under, he’s even asked to be thrown under (which he never asked for again!), but he really does dislike it. I’m sure just like everything else though, with time, he will get there.

In time, I’ll probably sign him up for lessons. He’s definitely not ready yet as he’s still getting his confidence and he’s not great at taking instructions. He’s a bit of a rebel my boy! But once I think he’s ready, it’ll be time to have him guided by the professionals.

For now though, we’ll watch our little fish enjoying every moment in the pool. And with the holiday home we are heading to on Friday having a heated indoor pool, I can see lots of swimming fun happening whilst we are there!

Are your little ones confident in the water? Do you take them regularly to the swimming pool? I’d love to hear your stories.