Slowly but surely, my kids are close to being better swimmers than me. That’s also not saying much, because I’m less then stellar (to make myself sound better than I am) but at the same time it really is. Swimming in my mind, maybe because I’m not the best swimmer, is like reading. It’s a life skill they NEED to learn. Luckily, like reading, it’s a pretty fun and fantastic life skill. This is the first year that both kids, are pretty much swimming like little fishies and the first year that both are deeply in love with the water. They have both had a bit of a love hate relationship with the water, sometimes being down right afraid. But they (we) persevered and lately they are both talking about how happy they are that they did. (there is really cute/useful giveaway at the end)
Has your little one had a love hate relationship with swimming? Because it is often nice to hear from someone who has TOTALLY been there (oh those sad scared tears….heart pains) these are some of the things we did to get over those scared/not-interested-in-swimming-even-a-little-bit, bumps (because they are just bumps in the road):
- CANCEL THE SWIM LESSONS – not usually a good thing to do, because quitting is never a good example to set. But there is also no sense in forcing them to do something that they clearly don’t want to do. And I found with swimming, the more you force, the more they resist and unlike other activities the fear of water can leave a more lasting effect/memory. So cancel this session and just drop the whole concept of swimming for a while, let the things breathe a little….literally.
- SKIP A SESSION – if they are still talking about how they are scared of bobbing their head underwater or maybe something else that was scary about their last lesson (maybe just the water in general). Sadly sometimes it was just the teacher, just like regular school a good swim teacher is worth SO MUCH and a not so good one? Well that can quickly turn them to against something they otherwise previously loved. So what we did, in all situations is let the whole swimming situation breathe a little. We skipped the next session of swim lessons and gave them time to grow and maybe forget a bit.
- GO FOR FAMILY SWIMS – when you skip a session, go for weekend family swims just for fun. Even stay in the kiddie pool (with allll the pee — ewwwwwww) and just let them play. Create FUN memories of swimming, that will hopefully help replace or over power the scary ones.
- CHANGE THE LOCATION – after skipping a session, I always go back and sign them up again but I ALWAYS choose a different pool for the next swimming lesson. Something as simple as a different pool and teacher roster can change SO much, sometimes after the break the fear they had with the water is pretty much only associated to the pool they were at — or at least easier to talk them into trying (and all you both need is to try). So switch it up, it’ll probably be a bit more interesting for you too – new place, new people.
Also you know what helps, sure it sounds silly but it sometimes does; new swim gear to get them all excited for swimming again. This summer we broke past a few fear barriers and both kids are literally begging to swim every single day and really how could I say no, so if you’re looking for us the last 3 weeks of summer vacation – we’ll be at the pool.
Sunuva, my (honest to goodness) favorite swim company for kids; their suits just fit so perfectly on Harlow and the trunks are just the perfect length and fit for King. Plus the prints are always adorable AND they also happen to have full UV coverage on all their swim – which is like the goggles on a swimming day (icing on cake reference, no?).
Sunuva wants to give ONE of you a $135 CAD gift card (which equates to appx $111 USD and 100 pounds) to shop online at Sunuva for your little fish (maybe for their next swimming session?). (open internationally)
Entering is easy: a Rafflecopter giveaway
