Before winter set in I had a plan set up to make sure we got our butts out of the house and didn’t just wander Target for hours. I researched a few places and decided that I would stick not just my baby but myself in swim lessons. I can swim but she can’t so it becomes a mommy and me thing. We are on our third session and let me tell you, I freakin love it. Truly.
Every Friday I load us and our gear in the truck and head into the city for our 30 minutes class. We chose a place that starts babies as young as 4 months old. Our class holds up to 7 babies and their mammas. The locker room is hot as hell but at least your little one doesn’t freeze to death and the pool is kept warmer than your average. So the worry I had about dunking my kid around in the cold rooms and water after being outside in the cold is not that much of an issue.
The other moms are all really great and very laid back. Our teacher is a college student who not only knows her shit but my kid will go to her. If you have read long enough, you know my child doesn’t go to anyone so this is huge! Cora willingly takes her turn with her to practice jumps and to go down the slide.
Before we started, I remember thinking this was probably going to be pointless considering her age but I could not have been more wrong. We have had some of the same friends in our class since we started and I have seen progress with each and every one of them. Cora can climb out of the pool on her own, knows how to sit on the side, jump in, go down the slide by herself, knows to hold her breath under water, knows how to blow bubbles, isn’t afraid to be dunked, and last week, for the first time she did her back float by herself. She has such a comfort level in the water that I know it took me forever to gain as a child.
It took me awhile to realize that this isn’t just something to fill our time but something that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. It is about safety in the long run as well. I’m here to tell you that if you are on the fence about it, do it. But mamma, you have to shave those legs and keep the bikini line clear for the entire winter because it is always swim suit season when you have to get in the pool as well!
Through My Mistakes 
Kudos to you mama for putting her in swimming lessons. Swimming is a life skill that will come in incredibly handy forever. I was a competitive swimmer for 14 years and a beach lifeguard and I can’t say enough about how important it is for people to learn to swim at a young age. Not only does it teach them to actually swim, but it also teaches them safety around water. And, no matter how hard you try, you will end up near water at some point in your life. Besides, I’m sure you and the Mr would like to take Cora on a beach vacation at some stage in her life and beach vacay is no fun without swimming!!!
So true! We are lake people, pool people, river people and you know, water people so the sooner she learns, the better!
That is SO cool. I always wanted to start my kids super young, but they don’t have those classes available around here. I’m finally going to put the kids in swim lessons this summer (age 3 & 5) and I’m so excited about it. They have improved leaps and bounds in the water just from having a hot tub at our house the past 2 weeks even!
In our small town we live in, we only have the YMCA that starts at 3. So we make the trek to the city, which is totally fine. Heck, I didn’t even know it was an option under 3 until I research. At least your kids love the hot tub as well so they aren’t afraid of the water! yay!
My small town is 800 people – and there is no pool. 😉 30 miles away is a gym (no YMCAs within 150 miles of here – lol) and they have a pool, but classes are at 10am and I work 8-5:30, so… *sigh*. I’m actually paying the high schooler we hired for the summer childcare to take them to lessons this year!
Man, I thought I had it bad! That is really tough. That is awesome you found someone to teach them! They will probably benefit more from it!
How did you ever teach her to hold her breath under water? This is awesome! I can’t swim at all… I wish there was something like that we could all do (me, dad & the twins!) I’ll do my research!
Thanks for the tip!
We do a lot of dunking them and them passing her from me to the teacher under water…if that makes sense. Over time they naturally start to hold their breath, close their mouth and sometimes their eyes. We count to 3 and show her how to hold her breath and eventually she just did it. So crazy honestly. There are 3 year olds taking class at the same time as us and they go down the slide and swim to the edge on their own under water!
Awesome!
Little MPB absolutely adores swimming. And I love when we do classes because it forces me to go with him and I love that it’s just something we do together (while Mr. MPB can swom he does not like swimming at all, so it’s always Little MPB and i). Little MPB is my little fish, he just loves swimming!
Also, I firmly believe swimming is a basic life skill and it’s probably the one activity that I will force little MPB to do even if one day he decides he doesn’t like the water.
Love that you do this as well! It is a nice 30 minutes together. Hubby has done a few classes with her but she gets over excited that he is in there with her and doesn’t listen as well. It is such a life skill and I will certainly be keeping her in classes!