Infant Swimming Lessons @ Joondalup Arena

Infant Swimming Lessons @ Joondalup Arena

Post
Subscribe

Posted 2012-09-30 by Helenonthesofafollow
The infant swimming programme at Joondalup Arena acts as an introducion to water with emphasis on developing their movement within this environment.


Age: 6 months to 3 years
Days: Monday - Saturday mornings
Duration: 30 minutes
Class size: Maximum of 8 babies
Cost: About $100 for 8 lessons

We started classes with our son when he was about 8 months old, but Joondalup Arena do classes from 6 months on. We first looked into the class as a weekend activity for my husband to get involved in.


I can't comment on all infant swimming classes, but there seems to be a bit of a code of conduct for baby swimming lessons at Joondalup Arena. It's dad territory. Out of the 8 babies in our class, all of them are taken into the water by the dads. I'm not saying that mum's aren't welcome, and certainly in the class before ours I've seen some other mums in the water, but there is definitely a proliferation of dads taking their bubs to the lessons. It's cute. So my observations are taken purely from the sidelines whilst nursing a latte, not from within the pool itself. I think it's frowned upon to take latte's into the pool, so this works out well all round.
Our lesson is run by the wonderful Alicia, who since the very first class has never forgotten one of the kids names. This impresses me as I generally need to meet someone a number of times before I truly remember their name. The class concentrates on some core skill areas: entering the water safely, movement through the water, blowing bubbles on the surface/under the surface of the water, experiencing water on the face and body and floating on one's back. All these skills are encouraged through the medium of games, rhymes and singing and a lot of splashing. On week one, I can recall most of the dads miming to the songs (lips moving of a sort, no noise coming out) but by about the fourth week, all the early shyness dissapears and you can hear a merry chorus from the pool and the kids seem to love doing all the actions and splashing to the songs.
From the moment my son started taking lessons, I've been asked a number of times (by my mother in law) whether he can swim yet. He is now 22 months and he doesn't swim unaided. For us it wasn't about getting a super head start on our son becoming an Olympic swimmer. Instead, it was about water safety, water confidence and him having some great fun splashing in the water with his daddy. He's never been scared of water, as he's been swimming since 6 weeks, and he'll happy dive underwater and jump in from the sides. For many of the kids in the class, this has been their first introduction to swimming and water, and I have seen their confidence sky rocket; just in time for care free summer swims with mum and dad.


Most of the pools in the Perth region run a version of baby swimming classes. You can contact AustSwim for details of their accredited classes or check out your local pool

#family
#fun_for_children
#joondalup
#kids
#learn_something
#northern_suburbs
#school_holidays
#swimming_pools
%wnperth
122730 - 2023-06-13 00:06:31

Tags

Free
Festivals
Music
Outdoor
Markets
Nightlife
Fundraisers
Family_friendly
Community
Arts_culture
Random
Educational
Food_drink
Holiday
Theatre_shows
Copyright 2022 OatLabs ABN 18113479226