Turning Dominic into a Duckling - week four
Hi everyone, I’m Claire and my 19-month old son Dominic and I have now been attending swimming lessons for four weeks – read on for our latest exploits in the pool!
Our friends Debbie and Luke are on holiday so I’m nervous about going on my own. I hope I will manage. We toddle slowly towards the changing rooms and bump into Maggie. We met at the lesson last week. Her daughter Freya and Dominic are in the playpen and Dominic shares his fruit bar. It’s a good way for the little ones to socialise.
She goes to Aqua Jogging classes one evening a week – a great way to keep fit....She confides that it’s also a good way to get out of doing the bedtime routine!
We have another different teacher this week to cover for Bev’s holiday. I am a bit concerned about the lack of continuity but don’t mind too much. It’s good to see different teaching styles. Dominic will benefit too as we can experiment with new ways of learning the basics.
There are only a few of us as it’s holiday time. Dominic gets lots of one on one attention which he loves. The teacher uses his name a lot and smiles as she leads him across the pool. He responds much better when she has his full attention. He loves trying to blow balls across the water so she uses this a lot. At this age communication skills are just developing but I know he understands basic instructions.
We have fun with woggles and going through hoops. Dominic laps it all up – rather too much sometimes and swallows some water! He doesn’t like and goes a bit red in the face!
Maggie and I meet the in café after the lesson. She goes to Aqua Jogging classes one evening a week – a great way to keep fit, she says you burn lots of calories in the water. She confides that it’s also a good way to get out of doing the bedtime routine!! I like the idea of doing something for myself too so I agree to meet her at the next class.
What have we learnt this week?
- The benefits of lessons don’t stop in the water – it’s good for socialising and communication skills too
- Try to discover a way of learning that appeals to your child and they will take more on board
- Pools aren’t just for swimming lessons – make the most of what’s on offer
Useful?
6
