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Liam has been in swim lessons at Goldfish Swim School for a little over two years and has improved a ton. He treads water like a champ, can float on his back for a really long time and is almost to the point where he can swim across the pool by himself.
Our job is done, right? Because he can swim…ish.
Nope.
This post is part of our partnership with Goldfish Swim School. All opinions are completely my own.
Just because he’s gotten the hang of a couple different swim skills doesn’t mean he’s ready to move on to a different activity quite yet. For one, we don’t swim regularly. So if there is a large span of time between vacations and summertime, it’s totally possible to lose some of that swim knowledge in between. (Another bonus of Goldfish’s perpetual swim lessons). Secondly, there’s a huge difference between having a couple of beginner skills under your belt and becoming a strong, safe swimmer.
Now before I go any further, I want to tell you that Liam is completely fine. Hear that, mom? I just wanted to say it upfront before anyone gets too worried.
We were camping this past weekend with family up in Michigan and spent every afternoon at the lake. I recently tore my ACL, so I wasn’t able to be in the water with the kids. Jamie hung out with Caleb and Liam went off with some cousins. The majority of the swim area was quite shallow – enough for Liam to walk in the water without getting his head wet.
When Liam walked out into the water on Sunday without his puddle jumper, for a split second, I thought about calling him back for it. The lake was crowded and neither Jamie nor I would be near him in the water. But I didn’t. It wasn’t his first day in the water and it also wasn’t the only time he’d been out there without it. And although he wouldn’t be near us, he also wouldn’t be alone. It would be fine.
Until later, Liam came running out of the water to me and said:
I was walking around in the water and stepped into a big hole. I swallowed a bunch of water and thought that I was drowning.
The reality is that he was only underwater for a split second. And there actually was someone keeping an eye on him. It also sounded like Liam was able to pop back up above the water just fine, but it was definitely enough to scare him and get him to come back for that puddle jumper.
I learned a couple things too. Like even when you think your kid has things handled in the water, that’s not always true. And that we’re sticking with swim lessons for the long haul. It’s not just the swim lessons we value at Goldfish, but the safety skills they teach there too.
So what about you? Do you see the value in committing to long term swim lessons?
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