Swimming Lessons Continued

When we left Singapore, there were certain things we quit along with it. One of which is KK's swimming lesson. He was on the verge of mastering the freestyle before we said goodbye to our olympic size condominium pool. I regretted that we hadn't started earlier. 4 years we stayed there and we only started to send KK for lessons 6 months before we left.






Here, we had KK participate in the swimming programs organised by the school. They were intensive 5 to 10 days programs aimed at improving water confidence and were part of the school hours. KK enjoyed them but we don't see any results in terms of his swimming skills. He was still paddling like a puppy in the water. Now, after a gap of two years, we finally got him back to the pool for some formal training.








The indoor swim school, only 10 mins away, is a really small one, just big enough to house a 4-lane x 25m heated pool, a set of bathrooms and a small reception area. We decided to sign XX up as well.








For XX, this was a new experience for him. During his first lesson, he initially didn't want to go as he was afraid once he heard the words "school" and "teacher", shadows of his childcare days. But that day we arrived early and once inside, he had the opportunity to sit there watching the babies have their swim programs with their mummies while we waited. Pretty soon he warmed up to the idea and was getting eager to get into the pool. I had no problems getting him undressed and he slipped into the pool as soon as his 30 minute lesson began. He sat there with 2 other little children and didn't resist when the instructor took him for a swim. I coolly sat by the bench nearby, waved at him whenever he completed his turn and even chit-chatted with another mum. Even when the instructor purposedly dipped his head under water, he didn't cry. And she did it a total of three times. I'm so proud of him. At home, when he washes his hair, he makes a fuss when water trickles down his face and will ask for a hankerchief to cover his eyes. So I can see that while he was shocked and didn't liked being dunked, he was trying hard to be brave. It's funny how they are such good boys when they're with outsiders and then become a baby again once they come home. KK was like this too. See Swimming Lession #1.





As for KK now, he had no problems of course. One thing the training Singapore has taught him to overcome his fear of water on his face and in his eyes. This water loving boy couldn't wait to jump into the pool. But while he has lots of confidence in the water, his techniques were all haywire. I really hope that he will finally learn to swim the freestyle properly here.