Swimming Head First
About two summers ago, we took our son to the beach. The house where we stayed for a family reunion had a swimming pool as well, and the kids enjoyed getting into the water daily. My son had other ideas.
Why on earth anyone would want to get inside this freezing wet stuff was completely beyond him. At sixteen months old, he was perfectly content to splash water inside a bucket…on dry ground.
Then we found a compromise that suited everyone. My sister-in-law had a giant inflatable chair. My husband and I could enjoy the pool, holding onto the chair where my son could glide on the surface of the water like a king commanding his servants. To make it even safer, I had dressed him in a full body bathing suit equipped with floatation devices completely around his chest.
My husband affectionately nicknamed him “Baby Jihad.” The kid looked like a suicide bomber, ready to go off at any moment. But he allowed us to take him around the pool. Then, as fate would have it, he decided he’d had enough. Before I could grab him, he hurled himself off the opposite side of the chair. I learned that instead of keeping him upright like a bobbing cork, the Baby Jihad set-up tended to spin. His face would go in the water, then he’d spin upright, then down again. I rescued him in approximately three seconds, so there was no harm done, really, but he chose to blame my husband for the entire ordeal (even though my hubby was at the opposite end of the pool). Our son shot him nasty looks for the remainder of the trip, as though the entire thing were my husband’s fault.
This year, it’s my daughter’s turn to wear the outfit when we visit relatives over the Fourth of July. Her personality is vastly different from my son’s. Instead of being finicky about the water, I anticipate her fourteen-month-old self will do cannonballs into the pool. The child has no fear.
At what age did your kids learn to swim?
P.S.–5 pages last night. Since I’m back to work this week, I’m pretty pleased with that.
Michelle posted in Life and So On, Parenting @ 6:13 am | Viewed 1785 times
Bonnie Ferguson Says:
:cheer:Five pages is great. I can’t comment from the parental perspective but I learned to swim when I was a toddler
Kelly Says:
My father taught me to swim at the age of two by swimming out chest high in a lake and tossing me in front of him, then yelling ’swim to shore kid!’. Since Dad forgot the floation devices and my mother was on dry land screaming her fool head off at my father, I thought it best to take Dad’s advice. Luckily I took to it like a fish and my Dad lived to see another day when I arrived safely on shore, turned around and tried to swim back before my mother caught me.
Rene Says:
My son was probably 4 when he learned to swim. My folks have a pool and my kids spend a lot of time at there house during the summer. The summer my daughter was three, she decided she didn’t want to wear the stupid safety vest, so she taught herself to swim. My son had swimming lessons once, my daughter not at all and I feel should put them in this summer, at least my daughter. The baby loves water and we know it is going to be very difficult with her around the pool. But…we managed with the other two. My folks have plenty of “baby” swim stuff, so we should be okay.
Rene Says:
BTW, seven pages yesterday.
Sharon Says:
I have a 5 year old, 7 year old and a 10 year old and they all swim but learned at different ages. My youngest (daughter) is just like yours, has absolutely no fear. At just barely 4 the competitive little fart challenged her brothers to see who could hold their breath the longest under water. She went 48 seconds, her closest competition did 27.
Gina Black Says:
How can I not remember how old my kids were…?
They both took swimming lessons. In L.A. the land of swimming pools, that’s a must. Something tells me they were both swimming–or at least water safe–by the time they were four.
My son swims like a fish. My daughter swims like a cat.
Melissa Says:
My daughter doesn’t know how to swim and neither do I. I need to get her into swimming lessons because I want her to be able to enjoy the water. I have a huge fear of the water - can’t even dunk my head under.:confused2:
Steph T. Says:
My daughter loves the water - no fear at all. We’ve taken her in the pool from the time she was really little, and my husband and I both learned to swim early, so I guess it was just a natural extension for us.
At least your son blamed your husband and not you for the pool mishap!
Crystal* Says:
My chickens learned to swim in first grade. It was actually a part of class. They had kiddie pools growing up, but this was the real deal. And they’re all little fishes. I actually think the baby is half mer-child. I don’t remember the conception, dammit, but I must have had fun.
I wrote ten pages yesterday. YAY! And as soon as I finish bloghopping and commenting, I’ll get back to it.
Grins*
Tori Says:
No kids, so no clue from that POV, but I never did learn to swim.
Though I can dog paddle. 
Suzanne Says:
The oldest one learned later cuz, well, he was the oldest. LOL. He was five and we had to force him in the pool at swimming lessons. He loves swimming now. The others started swimming at toddlers. The benefit of NOT being the oldest, LOL.
kacey Says:
young. Not sure how young though. But my parents had a lakehouse, and I sure as heck wanted my kids to know how to swim since they were around water so much. Though we had a “you have to wear life jackets on the dock rule” until they were about, um 16
Okay, about 10. But they still had to wear ski belts when swimming in the lake. I mean you can’t see the bottom!! Finally after the oldest two were on the waterpolo team, LOL, I relented on the ski belts 
Amy K. Says:
I missed this post yesterday. Mine have started young, like 18 months or so. Of course, they don’t learn much at that age, but they get used to the water. Now at 3 and 5, my guys are able to go underwater, get to a back float, and are starting to learn strokes. They’ve had a really good private teacher for the most part. The group lessons didn’t do a thing for us.