KILDARE PARENTING COLUMN: Children learning to swim can’t be overvalued

When Aidan had just turned three I got the fright of my life when he fell in to a pond.

Just thinking about it now still gives me nightmares. Myself and the kids and a friend and her boy were visiting the Irish National Stud in Kildare when Aidan slipped on a piece of mud and in he fell.

It was at that point I froze rigid with fear but thank God my friend wasn’t as stupid. She dived in after him immediately and got him out. Aidan was grand. I think I got more of a fright then he did.

We dried him off with a picnic blanket, changed him (why I happened to have spare clothes with me I don’t know!) and treated him to an ice-cream and all was well in his little world again.

From that day on I vowed that my kids would be confident in water and know how to swim properly. However, in typical me fashion, I didn’t follow through on it.

In my defence when I was working full time it was hard to fit all the activities in. However, I’m glad to report both Aidan and Sarah have started proper swimming lessons and they are flying. Or should I say swimming?! 

When Aidan was a baby and when I was on maternity leave I was the typical enthusiastic first time mother and signed him up for baby swimming lessons. It was a chance for me to meet other mums plus I figured it was good for him.

And it must have been good for him because he’s a humdinger in the pool! He has no fear whatsoever. He jumps in, has zero issues with his head being under water and picks up what the instructor tells him to do in an instant.

On the other hand his little sister is a lot more cautious. I think she’s marginally put her head under water once so far in the course, while she still hasn’t mastered the art of kicking her feet with the float out in front of her.

That’s personalities for you though. Aidan is a daredevil and has fear of very, very little, while herself like to tread very carefully.

The instructors recommended I started them both out in the same group. The pair of them often go ‘swimming’ with us and have spent plenty of time in pools on holidays but neither knew what to do technically or in the case of danger.

Suffice to say that Aidan won’t be in the same group as Sarah for too long and you don’t have to be a swim instructor to know that! 

Indeed, looking down on the pool I realised he was the class lick; showing off his skills and delighting in the fact he could do a lot more than the other small people in his group. And all without a float if you don’t mind! 

After his latest lesson he overheard his instructor tell me that he was very good and will most likely be moved to the higher level group in the coming weeks. Well the child was only delighted with himself! 

When I was a child I loved the water too. I never had a fear of it. I remember, when we used to go abroad on holidays, being up and in the pool as soon as it opened and having to be dragged out of it when it was getting dark.

I don’t recall any lifeguards watching over me and my parents were most likely enjoying a few alcoholic beverages on their sun loungers so it’s a good job I had no fear of the water, isn’t it! 

In saying all of that I couldn’t really swim though. I still can’t really swim.

I can make the shapes of swimming and keep myself afloat but I’d struggle to swim a full length of a pool.

I went for lessons in primary school and I vaguely remember being a lot like Sarah.

I was cautious and lacked the confidence. I remember being very envious of the people in my class who seemed like naturals when I flapped around the place.

Looking back it must have been very hard for instructors to coach so many of us.

In Aidan and Sarah’s class the max the instructor has is six and it’s plenty if you ask me.

Any more and it’s nigh on impossible to help the kids and track their progress. Oh and not to mention keep them all in order! 

The guy teaching Aidan and Sarah is a dote; a patient dote at that. He has Aidan one side of him showing off and doing fancy flips he’s not even being asked to do and Sarah the other side refusing point blank to put her head under the water despite wearing goggles. Yet he keeps on smiling and doesn’t look like he’s about to lose his cool when he’s splashed in the face by Aidan’s sprawling legs! 

There are so many levels for the kids to get through before they are ‘qualified’ and lessons aren’t cheap but, in my opinion, some things are worth paying for if you can.

Having seen a clueless Aidan fall into water I really know just how important swimming lessons and water safety is.

Aidan might think he’s a mini Michael Phelps but he doesn’t realise he’s still quite clueless so his next instructor will have to make him cut out the handstands and the tumbles me thinks! 

I’m glad he’s at least confident though. If I could just get him to share some of that confidence with his little sister they would be away in a hack.