Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Swimming lessons

Today was swimming day. It's hard at this time of the year to find the inspiration to leave a nice warm house and take the lads to the pool. And I don't get into the pool so I can only imagine it is much harder for them. We have unfortunately missed the last 2 weeks of lessons due to colds and xray appointments so it is really important we try to make it to the last 4 weeks of term.

Another reason to try to make it to every lesson is the expense. And let's face it swimming and other extra curricular activities can be very expensive. And of course there can be a huge variation in cost and quality of such activities.

We found somewhere that was really cheap in comparison to the place we were originally using. The class sizes were the same, it was about the same distance from home and because we have a Community Services Card due to being a low income family the fees were reduced and a fantastic price. Even better than all that though was the fact that after their lesson the boys could splash and play in the main pool for as long as I would let them. We managed to get a Sunday morning lesson which meant their father and I were able to alternate weeks to take them. Sounds perfect doesn't it and the budget definately agreed. However in practice there were 2 big problems which affected Mr8's ability to benefit from these lessons. Firstly the teacher didn't hop into the pool with the children just stood yelling instructions from the side of the pool. Also it meant he was unable to correct arm strokes and breathing problems in a hands on manner. Worse than that though was the temperature of the pool. The poor child was so cold in that pool that even with a thermal on under his swim gear his lips and fingers were drained of colour within minutes of entering the water.

So after a few weeks of shivering and tears at lesson time we pulled him out. His brother continued to have his lesson in the other pool and X and I would take turns trying to teach him while the little guy had his lesson. Eventually we just left him to have fun and splash about and then they would have play time together.

So on the one hand this was a huge waste of money but on the other we learned a valuable lesson. Cheapest is not always best. Lets face it cheap lessons where a child struggles to swim 5 metres are not beneficial. Slightly more expensive lessons in a warmer pool where he can swim about 15 metres are much better.

We never returned to our original place of lessons however as they are really expensive. Instead we went to the swim school that the boys school uses for their lessons. The facilities aren't flash but the staff are fantastic and hop in the water with the children, the pool is usually pretty warm and the boys have fun. Price wise they are about half way between the 2 extremes we have found elsewhere.

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