Saturday 5 May 2012

The joys of Swimming

 Now I can't swim so you might think it strange that I am writing about the joys of swimming. But swimming is a joy for my son and my husband. Myself I really should learn its never too late I hear you cry that much is true but for its my confidence and the trauma of my swimming lessons as a child.

I used to get dragged to the local private schools swimming pool for lessons. I remember this ...

1. There was a nice Ginger cat ( who lived by the sweet counter) there which was very friendly. I loved going to see the cat. I tickled t tummy and stroked its head it purred that made me happy.

2. Complete terror and fear of being in the water with a swimming teacher that was straight out of the army.

3. The sweets after wards  I got a treat and I saw the lovely Ginger cat again.


I remember having to play ' What's the Time Mr Wolf' and to be honest it scared the life out of me ( I hated it ) . I pleaded and cried and that was just to the swimming teacher but this was the late 1970's early 1980's you didn't do soft ! Even crying and pleading with my parents at the time fell on deaf ears.
Any way after a couple of years the swimming pool closed down for refurbishment and so bought an end to my lessons.

And then my I finally had the confidence to go swimming with school I wasn't allowed to because my mother reckoned it would upset my eczema so for the second time in my life I was subjected to complete humiliation by peers and teachers at school because I wasn't allowed to go . The ridicule and teasing was truly unbearable.

So now to be as a adult I still fear the water .. I will go in I just bob in the water I grab a floatation device and just hope for the best.




Me using a floatation device to bob about in the water!



Bow with my son it is a completely different matter I did not want to pass my fears and failures on to him. I know failure is a strong word when it comes to the subject of swimming but if in some way I hadn't help him learn to swim then I would have felt a failure.

So what I did when he was five years old I enrolled him a weeks intensive course to learn how to swim. And he truly loved it , it suited him down to the ground as he was a nervous child recovering from glue year so regular swimming lessons at the time weren't really an option for him.

The confidence and strength it ha given him in his life is unbelievable he is now 13 and it is a skill that will see him through the rest of his life.   Recently  We went to Dubai and stayed at a hotel where there is a water park  where he fed Rays.

My son feeding the rays in Dubai.



And then my son did this he went down the largest water slide in Dubai  The Leap of Faith


Atlantis Hotel Dubai

And yes that little red speck going down the water slide is my son so I am Thankful for the joys of swimming.





2 comments:

  1. Wow that slide looks steep!

    It's great your son can swim, it's such an important life skill.

    http://www.21stcenturymummy.com/2012/05/02/the-water-babies/

    ReplyDelete

Everytime you comment on this blog you will be sent a kitten ... that could be a lie .. though it would make me very happy Thank You! If you are allergic to cats then wine will be sent .... * that could be a lie also.

Not connected with kittens

In line with new Data Protection legislation (GDPR) by commenting you do so in the knowledge that your name & comment are visible to all who visit this blog and thereby consent to the use of that personal information for that specific purpose.