I have some great memories of going to swimming lessons when I was younger. My older sister and I had matching purple with white stripe bathing suites. I remember being so happy when I passed a level and got my badge for completing it. One of my old swim suites had the badges sewn onto it. I also remember how devastated I was when I failed levels. My Mom also let me try diving lessons, but I am horribly uncoordinated and managed to smash my head into the diving board on several occasions. Alas my dream of being an Olympic diver was gone.
Jason grew up in Kelowna, in the summer really all you can do is hit the water to stay cool. He also grew up going to swimming lessons. His family also had a boat and he learned how to water ski, and went water tubing lots. He was much more talented in the swimming area than I, he could have become a life guard at the pool for a job back then if he had wanted to.
We’ve had a few conversations about our kids joining swimming lessons, and really it comes down to water safety. We love being around the water, we go to a summer camp that is on an island so we are surrounded by water, and we’ll definitely be doing trips to lakes either when we go camping or visit Jason’s family. We want our kids to be confident in the water, and to also know what to do in an emergency. We have decided that we are going to have our kids all take swimming lessons.
The youngest a child can be to start lessons in our area is 6 months, so we have to wait for the July lessons to begin. Jason is really looking forward to the Parent and Tot lessons, and so am I. The lessons at this age are more about getting them comfortable in the water. I know some people are not big fans of the idea of starting swimming lessons this young as there is a fear of ear infections. Jason was prone to them, I was not. We have no idea what Everly will be like, but we do not see that as a good enough excuse for her to not learn how to swim. Did you know that chiropractic care is great for relief of an ear infection? Since Everly is already connected with an awesome chiropractor, I know this will be an option if we ever have to battle one.
We are looking forward to Everly developing skills and becoming a good swimmer. We hope she never has a phobia of the water (though her Mommy does have a fear of the ocean, but that is because she has a feeling that there is a shark with her name on it! [the panic attack while snorkeling in Maui on our honeymoon was interesting]). It already seems like she is a huge fan of being in and around water, she went in a pool for the first time at only a month old just to get her feet wet and loved it, since then the bath tub has become a major splash zone. If she develops interest in doing swimming, diving, or becoming a life guard we will gladly support her in reaching any of those as a goal.
We’d also like to apologize for the the bad weather we have been having recently. We bought a kiddy pool for Everly the last day of the heat wave, and now its just been sitting and waiting for the nice weather to return.