Although I wasn’t sure which class I was going to take her to, I knew that I wanted Erin to take swimming classes as early as possible. I am not a strong swimmer at all and this isn’t something I want for Erin. I want her to feel safe in the water, be a confident swimmer and know what to do if she ever gets in trouble.
My friend Megan and I signed up Erin and her son Noah (who was born on Christmas Day) to a class with Little Bobbers. There was actually very little choice for me when it came to swimming classes as I don’t drive but this one is in a town that I can get a bus to and people have said how lovely the teacher is!
Megan and I were both excited about Erin and Noah’s first swimming class. I kitted Erin out in a super cute Splash About swim nappy and top to help keep her that little bit warmer. Erin loves bath time so I was expecting her to absolutely love swimming. How wrong I was.
From the minute we got into the pool Erin screamed her poor little head off. No matter what I said to her, or what I did, she would not calm down. She screamed and screamed until her face was so red and tears were running down her face. I was heartbroken that she reacted in such a bad way and also that I couldn’t soothe her. In the end, we got out of the pool after about 15 minutes as it was clear that she wouldn’t calm down.
Now, Erin had been having a strange couple of days before this class. I’m pretty sure she’s just starting teething. She had had a bottle not too long before but didn’t bring anything back up which was unusual as she has reflux so maybe she had trapped wind. The water was colder than I had expected it to be so maybe it was just too cold compared with her lovely, warm, bubbly bath water. Maybe Erin just hates swimming. I really hope that isn’t the case though.
In the hopes that maybe Erin was a bit shocked at the water temperature I’ve ordered her a new swimsuit. Well, it’s actually a Warm In One which is again from Splash About. Unlike what I had her in before, this product has full arms, legs and is fleece lined inside! This wetsuit is so cute and is mint green with dragonflies printed on it.
We’re swimming again today so I’ll be able to update in a separate blog post at some point to let you know whether or not it made a difference!
If your children had a bad first experience with swimming I’d love to know about how you helped them get over it!