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I am so excited! Why you may ask? I inadvertently bumped my federal student loan payments back a month when I submitted the application to consolidate them all into one. I wasn’t planning on that and didn’t know that was what it was going to do. But I discovered it as I was looking at my finances when looking into swim lessons.

And that’s the main reason why I’m excited. I have money for my baby to get swim lessons!  I want her to be comfortable in the water but also safe. I am concerned about being able to allow them to teach her the first lesson which my interpretation of the process is her being able to go under water and hold her breath for 8-10 seconds.

Baby’s Basic Necessities

The swim lessons will require a swim suit for both of us as I will be in the water with her. Swim diapers. And a pair of swim pants which I will have to purchase through them to make sure I get the right thing.

Well, I got there and discovered they don’t want the babies wearing disposable swim diapers. Instead they’re supposed to be wearing TWO reusable swim diapers together. It was a trick but they did manage to fit on her (big) little hiney.

We got there really early for the 4 p.m. swim class and they offered to switch me to the orientation class at 3:30 since I had never done it before. I was initially thinking I was going in for orientation when I filled out the information request Monday night, so I went ahead and switched to orientation which ended up giving us one on one attention by the swim instructor who walked us through each step of the class.

General Idea of the Process

It wouldn’t be right for me to give every step of the process. But there were plenty of times where Daenarys got to experience going under water. She loved some of it, especially when they brought out a little baby doll. She was all over the baby. And then there were parts that she was not a big fan of. And the underwater experiences weren’t the biggest culprit for her few tears.

Then we were done and we got out and I put a dry diaper on her, threw her in the car, and we drove home where she napped the whole way. I’m really excited about the progress she will be making over the next few weeks. I am also excited about the little friends she will be making as we’re in class. The class she will be attending was going as I was drying off and putting her dry diaper on, so I took a moment to let her watch them do it. All of those babies were smaller than her but not necessarily younger than her.

What I want to teach my baby

Not only do I want my daughter to learn how to swim, I want her to grow all around. I want to give her ample opportunity to meet other babies and to broaden her world. I also want her to not be “comfortable”. I want her to learn to push herself and do brave things.

This experience also allows me to get out of the house and do something that will benefit her in the long haul. It will also be another reason for me to get out and walk to the pool regularly to practice her skills and get comfortable in the water.

I strongly recommend you look into getting your children, even babies (Daenarys is almost 10 months), into swim lessons. If you can afford to graduate them into the next class as they graduate, great. I will probably be looking at doing one class a year. My tuition was pro-rated because I’m coming in partially through the semester. I don’t know how much the full semester would cost and it only just fit inside the money I had incidentally set aside.

Takeaway

She won’t be swimming independently this Summer, but she’s being introduced to the process which will be good building blocks for future skills learning. She gets some socialization. Furthermore, she learns early to push herself out of her comfort zone. I want my daughter to live bravely in all that she does.

Join the band of Gypsy Mothers!

Join my band of Gypsy Mothers and let us grow together. Feel free to comment below and tell me ways you help your kids learn to grow and to push themselves out of their comfort zone.