At Puddle Ducks we are completely mad about swimming and to prove it we like to encourage all of our swimmers, from the youngest to the oldest to participate three times a year in our very popular Pyjama Week.
So what does this have to do with learning to swim and what benefit do our babies/children get from this somewhat odd activity? Those with previous experience of life-saving or personal survival classes in their youth may think that they already have the answer and no, it doesn’t include tying knots in the trouser legs of your jammies, blowing them up, and using them as a life preserver (never done that? I must be showing my age!), though I know many of you know to what we are referring and are smiling with fond memories!).
Seriously though, any good swimming school will focus on and invest a substantial amount of class time to not just helping you and your child to increase your levels of water confidence and to introduce and develop basic swimming skills in your little one but also to teaching you and your little one great water safety skills, leading to personal survival skills (individuals learning to help themselves in the water) and ultimately life-saving skills (learning how to help others in difficulty in the water). All of our classes have a water safety element to them every week. Our Pyjama Week gives all our swimmers a regular session where the babies/children are exposed to what it might feel like to be in the water with their clothes on. We do not positively encourage our swimmers to jump into the water whenever they can fully clothed – quite the opposite – but we can provide them with the opportunity to see how it would feel to be in the water, following an accidental submersion/fall into water, showing them that they can still swim, practice turning etc.
Every Autumn term we nominate a local well deserving cause to support in our fundraising pyjama party week, last year we decided to support Friends of the Baby Unit and Puddle Ducks customers raised an impressive £2800 For 2016 we have decided to support this wonderful charity yet again, a lot of our Puddle Ducks babies will have spent time in the NICU unit and we just feel this is a charity that fits well with our ethos. Let's hope we can smash last years total and raise even more in 2016 !