We put my 1-year-old daughter in swimming lessons at the beginning of this summer. Not only to help her get comfortable in the water and develop some skills to help prevent accidents, but it was also a Parent & Me class. The only Parent & Me class I have found that isn’t during working hours. Score! Scotlyn absolutely LOVES it, too. We start out class by playing with buckets and getting used to pouring water over her arms, shoulders, head & face while singing our welcome song. We work on floating with support and reaching for a ball to get her to kick her arms and legs. This took WEEKS for the babies to master, but they’ve got it down pat! We then work on crawling out of the pool on the edge and sliding off all the way under the water! This didn’t bother her like I thought it would but floating on her back and getting her ears wet was QUITE an adjustment. She’s still not fully relaxed on her back, even after 2.5 months. The most recent safety skill we’ve learned was the babies doing a scuba dive and swimming to the surface. A scuba dive is where they sit on the edge of a ‘lily pad’ floating mat, and the swim instructor tips them off backward and lets them kick their way to the surface. Yeah. We were in shock, too. What was most amazing though, was that NONE of the kids cried. when they make it to the surface, their parent picks them up and cuddles them, cheers for them, and baby recovers from any surprise they may have had! These lessons, although repetitive, are SO important to get kids comfortable around water. Scotlyn has done so well in the infant/parent class that they graduated her to the toddler class for the school year! Yay Scottie!
