T has been with Puddle Ducks baby and pre-school swimming lessons for well over a year now and not only has his confidence grown with water, but he enjoys getting wet and has no qualms about water hitting his face suddenly. The main reason we think he’s done so well is because we started swimming with him early on in his life – at an age where he would still find comfort from water. The good thing about the locations Puddle Ducks choose to swim at is that their pools are always nice and warm!

The other good thing about starting swimming so early is that we got a head start when it came to teaching T certain commands. I appreciate he isn’t a dog, but when you have a toddler you often find yourself saying the same phrases over and over to get them to do something. Going swimming is no different and it is down to the many instructions we’ve learnt over time that has lead to us taking some of those with us to help with the everyday.

Bath Time

Probably the most important place to practise water safety outside of the pool, although not the biggest area when it comes to splash time! During bath time, we practise blowing bubbles and getting T to kick those legs, however more often than not he likes to drink the bath water. This where Puddle Ducks’ ‘spurting’ technique comes into play and we can get T to spurt out the water he’s just slurped.

He’s also more than happy to pour water over himself thanks to regular practise in class.

Out and About

You’d think you wouldn’t be able to take skills from swimming outside of the pool, but without realising I’ve taken several phrases away for when we’re out on our travels.

In car parks, the ‘Hold on’ instruction is probably our favourite as T holds now holds onto the car when we’re in a car park and I’m getting his carseat ready or putting bags in the boot, or when we want T to hold our hands when we’re walking down the road. It’s also come in handy when we’ve let T take the dog for a (supervised) walk!

Instructions Around The Home.

Throughout our Puddle Ducks journey there has been a catalogue of new songs that we’ve learnt unknowingly whilst in the pool (and in the car whilst driving home!). Using clever word association within the song, I can instruct T to do something; whether it’s to jump in the water from a seated position using the Jelly on a Plate song or know that part of another song means that a duckling dive underwater is coming up.

But in addition to the word association in songs, there are several other instructions that our teacher gives the children that has made asking for the same thing at home much easier. Instructions like;

• Stop (with open hand actions) has come in handy when we’ve needed T to stop doing something.
• ‘Kick Kick Kick’ has been really useful when we first started getting T to take his shoes off.
• We use ‘Reach Reach Reach’ when getting undressed for bed or when we try and encourage T to reach for his toys himself.

You won’t be surprised to hear that we’ve thoroughly enjoyed swimming with Puddle Ducks. T (and me!) has gained a real rapport with his teacher; which has made every session enjoyable, and I feel more confident in the water with a toddler.

Fancy swimming with Puddle Ducks?

The East Sussex team are offering Lesbemums readers a 25% discount!

Click the image to find out more.

Alternatively,
email: westkentandeastsussex@puddleducks.com
or
call: 01892 617246
quoting “LBM17”

We have been compensated by Puddle Ducks for sharing our most recent experiences whilst swimming with Puddle Ducks.