Swimming Lessons 2017

This year we returned to Sunny Days Swim School and Ms. Shunda for the kids' swimming lessons. We are so glad we did. We seriously love Ms. Shunda. She is amazing. For anyone that hasn't heard about the kids' lessons before, she teaches Red Cross Certified lessons. It isn't the ISR type of lesson like a lot of children do. Instead, it teaches the kids how to swim and get themselves out of a pool if they fall in (like ISR) but also teaches the basics of beginning swimming such as the freestyle stroke, backstroke, and things like that to build up to more advanced skills later. I think ISR is great for most kids, but it didn't seem like the best fit for our kiddos. They both seem to do so well with the more "traditional" lessons but we required that they be one-on-one in the pool and still focused initially on survival skills. Being that both kids are still in the "preschool aquatics" section though so it is more about survival skills with the latter skills built in. Additionally, we like that she requires them both to keep their eyes open underwater and discourages the use of flotation devices once they start lessons really. Kenzie has been asking for goggles non-stop but we told her that we needed her to get through lessons this year and do her best before we will buy them because we don't want her to be dependent on them. We have explained that the main reason we want her to be able to swim is so that if she falls in or something she can get out and more than likely, she wouldn't fall in with her goggles magically on her face. Ms. Shunda is seriously one of the calmest, coolest, most collected people I have ever met. Either kid can scream right in her face (crying... not seriously screaming at her) and she remains perfectly calm but firm with them. Kenzie can get frustrated or uncertain and she stands firm but is so gentle that the kids are okay with doing what she wants them to do (most of the time). They are definitely learning as well. Each year Kenzie's first lesson is so much different than the year before and I am amazed at what she has retained.

So, with that... Let's start with Kenzie. This is her third year of lessons. In the past, we have done 20 lessons each summer. This year, because of our schedule, we could only fit in 10. But that was great for her. At the beginning she expressed to us that she was nervous but we talked about the difference between being nervous and being scared. She knows Ms. Shunda is always there. Throughout the lessons she had some moments of uncertainty but she usually got over it and she excelled. Even two lessons in this year, she was back to swimming like a fish despite not always wanting to practice in the pool with us. Lessons alone have been responsible for her being so great in the water even when lessons weren't in session. She used to hate water in her eyes and refused to go under but this year she was great anytime we went in the pool even before we started the lessons. In the past she was unsure about doing even sit jumps from the side. This year, they started with stand jumps in lesson 2 and she never even batted at eye. She just did it. In the past she would cry and try to argue about those because she was fearful but she just went for it this year. We are so proud of her. By lesson 5 she was back to swimming the length of the pool with minimal help. Technically the kid could swim all day... if she didn't have to breathe. And she is fast. However, she does NOT like to float and therefore doesn't like to roll over to take a breath. Eventually she will be taught to just lean her head out and breathe but right now Ms. Shunda wants her to know how to roll and float. Mainly because if she got tired, she could do that for a while and then start swimming again. But she isn't a fan. When she is swimming, she is fine. Until she starts to run out of breath, finally tries to roll and is so ready to breathe that she can't wait and ends up inhaling water. Then gets upset. It's all confidence with her. She can do it. She just doesn't want to as she is unsure. I know she will get it. We just have to keep practicing. Towards the end of her lessons we had a few more issues. She developed some additional uncertainty. Ms. Shunda constantly reminded her that she has all the skills she needs and she is actually really good (and fast) but she would get inside her own head and freak herself out. We actually had an issue with her arguing about doing some things, specifically rolling over, even though she CAN do it. She was just afraid. Thankfully, she always ended up doing what she was supposed to but there was an instance that I didn't let her have her lollipop that Ms. Shunda offers the kids at the end of the lesson because she was not nice during her lesson. I made sure to let her know that it is okay to be unsure or even a bit nervous but arguing with Ms. Shunda was not going to be allowed. Her final lesson was her best yet. She didn't argue as she has been doing for the prior two lessons and instead just did what she was asked. And she did so well. She rolled on her own which was a big thing for her. She did well practicing with the life vest on though initially she was really unsure about it. She expressed to Ms. Shunda how much harder it was in shoes but she was able to do everything she needed to. We are so proud of her and how far she has come. We actually took the kids to the pool earlier this week so we could test out our snorkels and masks and she was super enthused with the idea of snorkeling. I can see us exposing her to snorkeling here in the next year or two with continued lessons and practice to build her skills and confidence. She seemed really into it so maybe we will be looking for a snorkel and mask for her in the next year or so. Crazy to think that this is the stage she is at now when she was the kid that screamed through almost all of her lessons that first season two years ago.

Then there is Will. Last year he did his first 10 lessons. He cried during most of them mainly because he was separated from me. This year he cried again at the beginning but it was more because he knew more of what was going on and was scared. He always went with Ms. Shunda though and mostly did what he was asked. By the end of the second lesson his crying stopped. He ended up being the more easy going kid with swimming of the two, which is not surprising given their personalities overall. He is still learning to get those legs up and kicking at the top of the water to propel himself well rather than kicking underneath himself which doesn't actually move him anywhere. He is also still iffy on arm movements. He gets focused on reaching for walls or whatever he is swimming towards and requires some reminders to use his arms too as he would move faster. This is all very similar to how Kenzie was so we figure it is developmental and coming eventually. He can hold his breath for a serious amount of time for being such a little guy. He was doing stand jumps (which really was more of him being tossed in because he couldn't jump far enough out on his own) by lesson 6 and, unlike Kenzie when she started them, he didn't have any issues. He was right back out of the pool doing them again. What was strange was that he would be nervous before we left our house for the lesson but did perfectly fine once he was in the pool. He always asked me if he was going to go underwater again with Ms. Shunda and I would tell him yes. He was unsure but by the second to last lesson he was asking to go first and was right there doing the "pool rules" review that they do before every lesson. He ended up impressing us quite a lot. He is just so easy going. He may have been unsure and when we are in our neighborhood pool, he doesn't like to leave the stairs but if he falls and ends up underwater, he stands back up and just announces that he went under then goes on about what he is doing. I admit... he gets distracted and falls off the steps frequently but we don't freak out and just wait him out a second to see what he will do. Each time he figures out how to get turned around and stands back up on a step within a few seconds. Despite his concern, I totally think he actually kind of enjoyed himself during the lessons this year. I think our favorite part was watching him float. He puts his hands behind his head and just floats like he is laying in bed. Ms. Shunda cracked up when we told her that this is how he sleeps if he happens to be on his back. He is just so comfortable that he decided he will float like that too. Unlike Kenzie, he picked up on the rolling over to float thing super quickly. He understood that rolling when he needed to breathe was better than waiting until he ran out of breath which helped him maintain a better level of calmness. His skills aren't as developed as hers, of course, but his overall comfort compared to her is apparent. He did cry some in his final lesson. Wearing shoes threw him off a bit and he had a harder time getting to the side once which upset him and then made him upset for a few minutes until he was distracted by "ribbit" kicking which is his favorite and he was perfectly fine after that. He has his moments too.

This week we finished out the kids' lessons and ended with the clothing test. Being that this isn't ISR, they do a test in summer clothes (including shoes) but do not do one in winter clothing. I would be interested to see how the kids do in one like that. Although it would involve me needing to buy Kenzie a jacket because she doesn't even own one right now being that the one she had was from two years ago and I was already pushing it this last winter making her wear it since it was at least one size too small. Haha! The kids both remembered doing clothing tests previously so that was good. At least Will told me he did but he may not have. It was good because it mentally prepared them for what was to come. It is still odd telling them that they will get in the pool fully dressed though. They also practiced in life jackets which is good so that they understand how they work if we are out boating (in our fictional boat) and something happens. Both kids were really unsure of how they worked at first but once they figured out that they helped hold them up, they were fine. Ms. Shunda had Kenzie do standing jumps into the water in hers and Will did sitting but they both had to basically jump in and understand that the life jacket would basically require them to roll and float.

Overall, we are still so happy with these swimming lessons and with the route we chose. These kids have gotten so much better. Not only in their comfort around water but in their abilities. For anyone local to Apopka, we highly recommend Sunny Days Swim School if you are looking for the more "traditional" type lessons. She is awesome.