Showing off their medals for completing the swimming camp.
I have been taking my grand kids to swimming lessons for the last two months and this week they had swimming camp. The idea behind the every day holiday swimming camp is to make sure the children are safe enough around water. The festive period will see many families spending the day around swimming pools or the beach and sadly this will lead to some drowning tragedies.
The swimming school stated that the kids who attend the daily camp would improve by as much as 20% within the week and I have to admit the difference is very noticeable. Both my grand kids can now jump off the side of the pool and swim back to the edge without any difficulty. They are not exactly dolphins yet but the good part is they are not going to sink to the bottom either and are capable of getting out of trouble.
My grandson has been having swimming lessons at school and I have been wondering what he has been taught. When we started out two months ago he was swimming with what I would call an Ostrich neck making sure his head never went near the water. There was an obvious fear of water which is the survival instincts kicking in.
Today he swam a good 10 meters unassisted even if it was only doggie paddle this is a huge improvement compared to 1 week ago. Last week Thursday he would jump of the side of the pool assisted and would not go under the water and today here he is jumping in and going right under and resurfacing.
I would not let them swim at the beach due to not being that good at swimming and the currents would drag them off to easily. Pool wise they are good to go and if they did fall in they would make it to safety. This was the entire point of having swimming lessons and was never meant to turn them into an Olympic swimmer. I am always aware of my surroundings and my grand kids and a swimming pool would have had me on edge not being bale to relax and now I can even though would still be watching every move.
When we were in the UK I bought him some swimming goggles and this has forced him in a good way to try them out. Bath time every evening sees him sticking his head under water and blowing bubbles whilst wearing his goggles.
Earlier in the week there must have been a good 50 kids having lessons whilst we were present and today there was only 15 kids so it looks as though only a few took up the 1 week holiday camp crash course.
We were talking to another parent who mentioned her kid is the first person in their family who will be able to swim. One tends to forget that most of the families who have now moved into the middle income status or higher never would have had swimming pools at home. The majority of properties in South Africa tend to have a swimming pool and this is over the last 10 years like the first generation of black kids who have been learning to swim.
As a business this swim school is fairly new and you can see the potential knowing how many kids have parents who cannot swim and need to get their kids taught. I would have taught my own grand kids if our pool was working and would like to get this fixed early in the New Year. This is not an easy fix and needs to be totally redone due to the previous owners having cut corners using fake rocks to cover the real rocks. Jackhammers are now required to remove the fake and real rocks before we decide on what to do. This is why I say this will be like doing a new pool and will be a big job. Owning a home is like having a bottomless pit of expenses and will be glad to tick this one home improvement of the list.
