well i have just enrolled Jelly in baby swim clases, staring this thursday. i am really excited - it is as much for me as her, i thought it would be a good way to meet others since dh and i have only moved to canberra in the last three months and i still don't know anyone here.
anyway i was just wondering if anyone els has done these clases and what i should expect.
Good on you getting in nice & early with swimming lessons! I'll be enrolling Tallon in Spring/Summer, he'll be about 7 or 8 months then. I don't really know what to expect there for such a little one.. but you're bound to have lots of fun
Ooooh, I could rave on for ages on the benefits of swimming lessons for littlies.....good on you!
I think it varies state to state, but Olivia started swimming lessons at 4 months (in Darwin, where kids swimming lessons are FREE!) and even now we live in Adelaide, we still go once a week.
Usually the initial lessons are Aqua Baby or similar, and are really just to get babies confident and happy in the water environment. Lots of singing/rhyming games to make it really fun, and to get the babies happy and confident in the water.
ie "Humpty Dumpty" might be sung as the parent holds onto their baby on the side of the pool, then when Humpty "has a great fall" the parent lowers the baby into the water etc etc.......
The Aqua Baby type sessions are usually around 30 mins long. This is plenty of time for them to really get into it, but littles do get tired........I'll bet Jelly has a huge sleep afterwards!
My SIL started swimming classes with her babies when she moved interstate & found it a great way of meeting other families with similar aged kids......so good luck, hope you both have a great time!
Mackenzie LOVES swimming soooo much. She started at 6 months and just can't get enough. We started with the Humpty Dumpty and water familiarisation stuff then when we moved we changed schools and we do lots of splashing dipping under water, jumping, safety entry and exit, and her favourite part is the magic mat. She dives off the side (yes dives!) of the pool and gets up on the mat, runs and jumps to DH and comes us smiles. You will love it!
Kynan has just finished a 9 week waterbabies class. He loved it (took a few minutes to get used to it but then he was fine). Ours were just like Lucy described... half hour lessons - 15-20 odd minutes of structured activity (singing & water games) and then some free time. Kynan's now fairly confident with being splashed, submersions, and being on his back in the water.
We started Yasin at swim school at 6 months and he loves it - he's a total little water baby. We're giving it a break at the moment because the boiler where he was enrolled broke and it wasn't warm enough for our liking.
We've been to a couple of schools and they were all pretty much the same - small classes, half an hour lessons with singing and splashing. Alot of what they teach is also teaching the parents how to handle thier babies in the water so if your DH can go to a couple (maybe a weekend class) he might benefit from them too.
We have been going to swimming since Lilly was 5 months old and she loves it! We start with a song and then it's kind of a 'free time' thing where the bubs just swim around, chase the various toys in the pool and have fun! They also have a big foam duck that the bubs get on and then jump off or get 'tipped' off and this is to teach them how to get back to the surface if they fall in. As terrible as that sounds, the bubs love it (mostly) and the ones that don't aren't forced to get on the duck! The instructor generally gets around to most people a few times throughout the lesson to see how the babies are doing and give advice or perhaps challenge them a little more by removing floaties or one layer of their bubble or in Lilly's case taking her bubble off all together and getting her to swim across the pool! Towards the end of the lesson we do 'jumping' where the instructor sits the bubs on the wall at one end of the pool and pulls them into (and under) the water and guides them to the wall. This is to teach them to always find the wall if they fall in. Finally we have another song and it's time to leave. Like all of the other classes, ours goes for 30 mins and i would highly recommend it. Have fun
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