Swim Class

Yesterday, we had our first Parent and Child swim class at a local public pool. Aaron loves the water so I figured it would be a good idea to take an official class. It is geared towards kids from 6 to 18 months. It is a 45 min class every Saturday for 8 weeks. There are 8-10 infants in the class.

I was unfortunately disappointed with the first session. The instructor has never done the class before. She is very young and doesn't seem to really know what kids this age are like. The first thing we did was to put the kids on the edge of the pool and sing a song that goes like this:

5 little speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs.
Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool (baby is brought into the water here)
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are 4 speckled frogs.

And it goes on down to the last speckled frog. Aaron loved this part and wanted to jump back in the pool after the first line. But the next part of the class, we were supposed to have the babies practice blowing bubbles in the water. I don't think any of the kids cooperated on this and the instructor didn't have any suggestions for how to get them to do it. At this point, Thom was holding Aaron and he seemed to want to be a dolphin. He was wiggling his body in a way that seemed to propel him forward (towards Thom).

Then we turned the babies in a circle and sang:

Motor boat, motor boat, go so slow.
Motor boat, motor boat, go so fast.
Motor boat, motor boat, put on the gas!

On the last line, the babies are supposed to blow bubbles in the water. Didn't happen.

Then we were supposed to put Aaron on his back and sing a song about a pancake that we turn over at the end. He did not like being on his back at all. It was sunny and the sun was directly overhead.

The last 15 minutes of the class we could practice whatever we wanted and there were little water cans and those foam noodles to play with. At that point, it was close to nap time and all Aaron wanted to do was jump off the side of the pool, and at the very end, even that made him unhappy.

I like the use of songs with the class and I think it is worthwhile to get in the water with him. And the price of the class is cheaper than Thom and I taking him for 8 weeks on our own. We'll see if it gets better. And really, what can you expect for a swim class for infants.

I'll try to get pictures next week!