Pretty excited about DIY swimming lessons...

I just ordered the Laurie Lawrence Teach your Baby to swim DVD! We have been going to the pool to get Izzy familiarised, and I can't justify the price of lessons for familiarisation at her age for a 20 min lesson. So this DVD is all about teaching your baby safety and familiarisation in the water from a young age and it only cost $17.50, plus it's from a well known person!! Whoo hoo can't wait for it to arrive!! Got it from the Huggies book club and of course had to get her a book too, Possum Magic is on it's way!

Sounds awesome Tan! Angus goes to lessons but it is so hard to justify the cost I know. But I find it so hard to find the time to get in the pool with him to teach him myself! I am normally cooking dinner when everyone is swimming cause there is only shade in the late afternoon.

Good on you!! Can't wait to hear how you and Izzy go!

Hey, nice belly pic by the way!! I am so jealous!!!

Good on you for getting Izzy familiarised with water.

As for the money justification. Easy. Baby dead in the pool vs baby floating in the pool. That's good enough justification for me :D

Tehya has been going swimming lessons since she was 10 months old and is now a great little swimmer. Well worth my money.

Very true Trish which is why I want to do something but when I saw what they do for those 20 mins and saw the DVD clip online that made my decision easy to do it myself with her, at least until she is older and they actually start teaching rather than just playing singing games and splashing to get them used to it - that I can do! :D

Diff places teach diff things Tan. The one that my kids go to do a swim survival class first up. So to pass and begin her swimming lessons Tehya has to be able to fall in the pool, fully clothed, nappy, shoes, the whole lot, get onto her back and float unaided for 15 mintues.

Once she passed those classes she begun swimming lessons. I have never gotten into the pool with her. The swim survival classes are 1 on 1 and $15 for 15 minutes. Now she does a swim lesson for 30 minutes and it cost me $10.

And yes you are right, you can do exactly what that class is teaching, it's when you are going that step further that you need someone to do it or help you do it.

WOW!! Float unaided for 15 mins! I don't think I could do that and I'm a fish! Once she is a bit older and bubby number 2# is here I will definately be looking into further lessons for her. :)

I know, its pretty amazing seeing these little babies do this too.

Good on you hun. More babies in Australia should be taught how to swim given the rate of drowning accidents.

How exciting hun :dance:

We finished our last swimming lesson today, we're not going back next term because they teach the same thing until 12 months so we are going to do it ourselves! You will have to let me know what the DVD is like, I'm thinking of getting it to (well I have been thinking about it since you first showed me it :cryinglaugh: )

Tan: what an awesome idea, it makes sense to start young.

Trish where does Tehya go for her lessons, is it close to the area? What age can they start? Sounds like a fantastic set-up.

Personally , i worry about parents teaching the kids to swim. I am sure that you have her best interest at heart , and i am not having a go at you.

Friends of mine lost their daughter last year to drowning , and it is by far the most horrific experince of their life and also our life. Hannah had ben to swiming lesson in the past .

Please check out the website they have set up to promote awareness of water safety and drowning.

Hannah's Foundation

Your poor friends - that would be absolutely horrific to go through. :hugs:
I will be putting her into classes when she is a little bit older but as I mentioned right now when its all about water familiarisation, instead of just taking her to the pool and playing I have this option of doing lessons with her myself.
Thanks for sharing though and I agree that water safety and lessons are integral to our very water based culture here in Australia which is why I want to start this now.

Good on you Tan.

Having her familiar and comfortable in water over the coming years will greatly assist her in learning to swim. I'm a swimming teacher (as a side job) and the difference in kids who have grown up with water, and those that haven't is very big.

If you have the patience, time and pool to do it in, then go for it - i commend you. I have been taking my girls to swimming lessons since each of them was 6 months old....so nearly 4 years now . Every Monday morning, off we trot to swimming - and yes, like you i worry about the cost. But for me swimming is an integral part of any aussie kid growing up....

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More babies in Australia should be taught how to swim given the rate of drowning accidents.

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- it should be affordable too.........

I am so sorry to hijack your thread !

We are very lucky that we are able to afford to send our child to swimming lessons. But it is quite expensive !
One suggestion is that swimming lessons are govt. subsidised (much like childcare).

I think Water familarisation is so vital. and good on you for taking that 1st step.

(i will get off my soap box now)

Not hijacking at all, they are expensive but I will be happy to pay for them when she is older like I said and will actually learn to swim but I didn't know they were subsidised????? Im in Victoria and have never heard of that - especially as I am a school teacher and when our kids at school can't afford the lessons there isn't alot we can do. Could you forward me any info you can find about it please?

Sorry , it is not currenlty subsidised . It is proposal being floated.

Good on you Tan. I've been taking Izzy to classes for the last couple of months now and its amazing the difference in her - she's gone from just flopping in the water to actually kicking her little legs and will now swim underwater back to the surface without being held, reach for the pool edge etc. I don't for a second think she could save herself at this point but its such a great headstart. If I had my own pool, I'd probably have done a few classes to see what they teach, and then just continue with it at home until she gets to the next stage because its all repetitive now until she's 18 months old. I think our lifestyle is such that water familiarisation and competent swimming skills are something all parents must give to their kids, so tragedies like Mib's story are never heard of again.

Good on you Tan for doing this for your dd.
I have to say that it is very important for all children to be taught to swim as you know.

I'm a swimming teacher and have to say that the lessons we do are repetitive because that is how we as humans learn.

Slyder Its such a rewarding job don't you think? I just love seeing the kiddies progressing and the smiles on their little faces are just priceless.

Spring We start babies at 6 months. Our baby class cater for bubs aged 6 months to 2 years and then go up from there based on ability.

My kids love swimming (now) but they didn't when they were babies. We took them anyway, as we live on the Coast and are surrounded by pools, creeks, ocean etc etc. Good on you Tan, I hope it works out really well for you.

Wow - what a good idea!

We go to swimming lessons because I'm not disciplined enough to do it myself. If I have an appointment, and have paid money - I know we'll attend! hehe.

I agree that the water familiarisation lessons feel wasted, but I've just changed swim centres, and they're much better than the old one. At least with this one there's a bit more variety in what we do, and they learn to climb in and out of the pool, learn to crab along the wall etc.

Trish - at what age did they do the swim survival? Is that from 2yrs?

I started DS at about 8 months I think.. and while he didn't mind the water.. he hated the lesson LOL (anyone who knows Tallon knows he's not a ppl person, and was 100 times worse back then!)/ We had a few months off whilst I was pg, and we're well and truly back into it now, and he just LOVES it! He's the most confident in his class atm! It's just amazing seeing the change in him. He even lets the instructor take him now, so we'll probably look at moving up a class shortly now that he's 2. Just gotta get him happy to not have me in there, coz there's no way he'll listen to instructions in a class if he's screaming for me. But the repitition really does help I think, he loves it, and he's definitely learning :)

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Slyder Its such a rewarding job don't you think? I just love seeing the kiddies progressing and the smiles on their little faces are just priceless.

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Mako, yes once you get to know all the kids (I have 24) it's a hoot, especially with the ones who struggle initially then just take off. I haven't been doing it long though and the way things are going at my swim school I won't be staying there unfortunately. But, those issues aside, it's great fun.

Tan,

You go girl! I teach my girls at home in the pool as i am another parent who was disappointed in the lessons for the price. $15.00 for 30 mins and no one on one and it was always hurried and just not really for me or the kids. My kids are 100% more relaxed and happy in our pool at home.
Shayla who is just under 9 mths was more advanced than the other kids in the class who had been going for some time and the instructor asked has she been to swimming lessons somewhere else. I said no but we have a pool at home which i teach them in too. This made me think wow i can teach my kids at home and save $15.00 per lesson as the instructed basically complemted (sp?)me in a way. I took in all the actions and what the instructor did on her first day of lessons and never went back as i do it all at home.
If you can also let me no if that dvd is any good so i can purchase one as well. Also i go to the library and get books out and read up on swimming etc etc.

thats my story

jen

So sorry to hijack but...

TRISH: what age did she start the swim survival class? i haven't seen that offered anywhere actually, how did you find out about it?

I'm not worried about the cost of swimming, but i haven't taken DS yet because i looked in to it and all they do is water familiarisation, and we go to the beach every weekend so he's very familiar. But has no swimming or survival skills, so thats what i'd really like to do.

I also doubt i could teach that myself as i only got up to level 5 myself as i had ear infections as a child every year.

Great idea Tan, good luck with it!

I can't believe how expensive swim lessons are for little ones, and yet so important and I would say a 'necessity' for every Aussie child. Government subsidy would be awesome for those families who can't afford it.

MummaB, I only found out about it by accident really. I started taking Noah to swimming lessons when he was about 2ish, I saw the other little ones there that were so confident in the water and also saw the baby lessons. I "think" they only really do the swim survival for little ones as they are easier to teach to float and as they get older teaching them to swim is better for them. Don't quote me on that though.Tehya started at around 10 months of age.

If you were in Sydney I could tell you were to go, but other than that I am sorry, I can't help. We have swimming this morning so I will ask our teacher if she knows of anywhere else that does survival classes like that.


Sorry for the hijack Tan :hug:

Here are a couple of pics of Tehya floating. Even once they pass their swim survival class they have to begin each lesson floating for 5 minutes. Once they can swim unaided (as Tehya can now) they stop having to do it.

Tehya floating at 20 months
Tehya floating at 34 months


Tan, I'd be very interested to see how it goes with Izzy's swimming. Can you keep us updated hun :D

Thanks everyone.
Love the pics of Tehya hun!! That is great!

I will definately keep you all updated once I get the discs. It is a step by step program from 0-4 mths and then 4-30 months. Laurie Lawrence is obviously well known in the swimming community and for his own lessons so it will be interesting to see how we go. Also at only $17.50 for the dvd if I decide I only want to do it until new bubby is a bit older and then go to other lessons it will be money well spent. The other interesting thing will be getting Izzy to let go of me in the deeper water and to relax! She is like a leech right now! I will be going again next Wednesday and should have the dvd by then so will keep ya'll posted.