Hello, my name's Mike and I'm after a bit of advice on swimming aids for our daughter Chloe. Me and my wife have been ships in the wind for the last year or two. Since I had to take more hours to help provide for the extra mouth, we haven't had much time to exercise or spend quality time together as a family. She looks after our daughter most of the days, except when the in-laws take her one day a week so my wife can get a day shift in for a few extra bucks in the kitty. I've been doing 6 days most weeks so pretty much Sunday has been our only day together and often we end up lazing about as we are both shattered. The good news is, I've now walked into a career change that is going to afford me more time with the family with more money for less hours. My wife no longer has to work Saturdays so we'll have two full days together and a lot more of our evenings. So, health & family time are now two massive priorities. One way of tackling both things is to start going swimming on the weekend, we can both practice our own swimming and start burning some calories. We also want to teach our daughter to swim. I was wondering what the best swimming aids were to really help kids of her age get use to the water and have fun at the same time. I'm looking and there's all sorts. Obviously you have arm bands but there's all kinds of floats and boards available. Is there a good proven combo that works? We aren't looking at swimming classes for the time being as that's another expense and commitment but we are really keen on teaching her ourselves. Plus, its good fun-time together as a family. Thanks for any ideas in advance. By the way, I've found a second-hand for sale site that's got some good deals on various products and they also do swimming aids: http://www.for-sale.com/photos.cdn-outlet.com/.../20748-10804-259x292-AUTO.jpg
Mike,
I'm not speaking from personal experience, as we never used them with our daughter, but I have heard that arm band floaties should be avoided. I've read and heard that they give the kids a false sense of confidence and then they forget that they don't actually know how to swim and jump in or go deeper than they should when they aren't wearing the floaties.
An inexpensive and fun way to let your daughter play and work on kicking skills is to loop a swim noodle and secure the ends with a ring (the kind that are typically used as toys to retrieve off the pool bottom). Put her inside the loop facing the ring. She can hold on to the ring kind of like a steering wheel and zoom all over the pool while working on her kick.
Mike,
I'm not speaking from personal experience, as we never used them with our daughter, but I have heard that arm band floaties should be avoided. I've read and heard that they give the kids a false sense of confidence and then they forget that they don't actually know how to swim and jump in or go deeper than they should when they aren't wearing the floaties.
An inexpensive and fun way to let your daughter play and work on kicking skills is to loop a swim noodle and secure the ends with a ring (the kind that are typically used as toys to retrieve off the pool bottom). Put her inside the loop facing the ring. She can hold on to the ring kind of like a steering wheel and zoom all over the pool while working on her kick.
