Neither of my children are confident swimmers unfortunately, but I really want them to learn how to swim so they are safe around water, we live close to the beach so will be going there a lot in the summer and myself and my husband love swimming ourselves.
Rosie has always been a bit weary around new people and is quite shy. I hadn’t done many swimming lessons with her before she had to move up to swim academy. She doesn’t like putting her face in the water and she doesn’t like lying on her back. For these reasons alone I was feeling rather apprehensive about her starting Swim Academy, but because she turned 5, I needed to let go. I loved spending time with her in the water as well, so knew I was going to find it tricky.
I booked her trial run at Kent Science Park. I explained to her that Mummy wouldn’t be allowed to come into the water with her and she started crying, saying she didn’t want to do it and that I had to get in with her. This made me feel very anxious and that I didn’t want to force her into something she didn’t want to do. I asked her to just try and see how we got on. The car journey felt like forever as she was still quite upset, however when we got to the Swimming pool, she started to become excited, but her swimming costume on and it we went into the pool hall.
There we were greeted by two very friendly SA teachers, who spoke to Rosie and told her she had nothing to worry about and they will take it at her pace. This made me feel relieved and I had confidence that she would be fine. There was only two other children in her class, so Rosie was lucky enough to have a one to one session with one of the teachers, who was absolutely amazing with her.
The Teacher took it at a slow pace for Rosie, to see what activities she could do. She managed to do everything that was asked of her because Rosie was very relaxed and felt safe with the Teacher. At the end of the lesson, Rosie said she didn’t want the lesson to end and she loved Swim Academy!
I was so pleased to know that she was going to continue to enjoy her lessons and knew she was going to progress a little bit each time. I was also so grateful to the teachers for making her feel confident in the water and that she can do the activities. I can’t wait to see where Rosie’s swimming Journey takes her!