Water babies

I was up early this morning to join my Mum and the kids for the family swim session.

Theo has been desperate to go in the deep end of the pool, but he can’t go on his own and Mum can’t leave Theia, so I was drafted in to help.

He’s doing really well; Mum has spent the last 2 years on and off doing her best to get him swimming, so he’s now armband free.

However, as I started to head off to the deeper end of the pool with him, some jobsworth (12 year old) lifeguard stopped us and said Theo wasn’t a confident enough swimmer to go that far.
I explained I was here to supervise and the aim of the exercise was to give him the confidence to swim in deeper water.
I was told until he could swim a length unaided, in one go and without holding anything or putting his feet down, it wasn’t allowed.
Mum got involved at this point and between us, we tried reasoning with him. How could Theo swim a length unaided if he couldn’t do a full length as that required him swimming into the deep end?!
Lifeguard still wasn’t having it. But neither were we.

Mum asked how many widths of the pool equalled a length; he said ‘four’. So off Theo went and swam four widths.

Back to the lifeguard then to prove the point that Theo could swim a length. He begrudgingly gave in.

So while Mum kept Theia entertained, Theo and I swam from midway of the pool into the deeper part. I think Theo was surprised how much easier it was to float in deeper water. He has a tendency to panic, so we had a little pep talk about his lungs being like armbands; big breaths would help him float and if he tried to keep relaxed, that would help too.
The first try, he made it about 3/4 way before his feet went down. I hugged him and could feel his little heart pounding away. We had a little rest back at the edge of the pool and I asked him if he thought he might be able to swim all the way back to the deep end, without stopping.
He replied ‘well I won’t know unless I try’; what a great attitude!
Off we went again, all the while me encouraging him to take it slowly, big breaths, strong arms and legs.
I could see him dipping again at the 3/4 point, so I told him to focus on the clock on the wall. The distraction worked as it took his focus away from how far he had left to swim and he made it all the way.

His adrenaline kicked in from the euphoria of what he’d just achieved; we ended up doing 2 more full lengths before getting out for huge hugs!! I’m so proud of him!!

He’s just started swimming classes with school, so he might actually be one of the first to swim a length which I’m sure will boost his confidence even more :-)

DQ x