Baby swimming

Today we, that is me and the girls went swimming.  We have swimming lessons every Tuesday, and I have to admit that it's something that I love.  I've taken all four of the children swimming from when they were babies, and it's something that I highly recommend.  Of course you don't need to do formal 'lessons' although I've found them really helpful.

Underwater

The one area that I've found that they really help with, is having the courage to actually get your baby to do things.  I'm sure that you've seen the famous Nirvana cover, as I had before I went swimming with Kai, and I knew the theory behind it.  (Basically, babies under one automatically hold their breath when underwater) but to actually dunk your precious little one?  It's not so easy.  We did baby swimming lessons in the UK with Kai, which is where we got these amazing photos, (I want to say that it was little dippers that we did them with, but they don't seem to be in the North Midlands, where we did them, although six years or so on, that may well have changed).  The photos were actually a freebe, after the instructor was late for one of the sessions, but they are fantastic.

Water Confidence

With Kai, we had quite a big break between the baby lessons and starting again, which was a bit of a shame, and Mahe lost a bit of his confidence, although he still loves going swimming.  My girls have bags of confidence in the water, sometimes a little bit too much, although of course the lessons have helped with that too.  Knowing what you can't do is just as important as what you can do when it comes to swimming and being in and around the water.  I've loved swimming with all the kids and if you haven't been with your little one yet, I'd suggest you give it a go.