My first summers with Annie were perhaps the best summers of my life. We spent hours and hours dipping our toes in the water and enjoying local pools. But this year things will be different. She is running and jumping and seems to escape me quickly in the grocery store, yet alone around a pool. Real fear has set in as I think about taking her near water. Like many others, I have personally been affected by the loss of a loved one in water. Water safety is not something to take lightly, and in my book should be left up to professionals.
Like many of you, I thought I could teach my very coordinated (I may be slightly bias) two-year-old how to float on her back. And then I got into the pool with her. She was clingy and awkward and I had no idea what to do with her or where to begin. We’ve tried group classes but I didn’t feel like we were making any progress as a mother-daughter team.
As summer is inching closer (although it sure doesn’t feel like it) I decided to look into private lessons and landed on Charlotte Swim Academy. I checked out their facilities this last week for our first lesson and was blown away. Registering and getting checked in was seamless. We waltzed into one of seven private bathrooms to put Annie’s darling new swim gear on and then we were directed to the pool area. The room with the pool feels like a dream! The water is 90 degrees and the room is kept at a warm temperature so young swimmers don’t shiver. I loved that!
Annie could hardly contain her excitement when Miss Pam, her new swim coach, walked over to greet us. Miss Pam didn’t even worry about me, she talked straight to Annie and had her giggling within seconds. For 20 minutes I watched from the observation room as Miss Pam gracefully eased her into the basics of water safety. There wasn’t a single baby crying in the pool. I started to wonder if they had some sort of magic going on in there. Annie didn’t cling to her teacher ONCE. I spent an hour in the pool with no luck on floating, kicking or anything of the sort. Miss Pam had her doing it in minutes.
After her lesson Miss Pam gave me instructions on what to work on with her in the bath and told me she was a natural (which of course made this first time Mom beam with pride). The only tears on our first visit occurred as I pealed Annie’s suit off of her. She kept saying “swim, swim.” I resorted to watching the videos of her swimming from moments earlier to make it home tear free. We’ve been talking about Miss Pam and the entire CSA staff ever since.
You can register for your 10-week session now at www.charlotteswimacademy.com! Summer will be here before you know it! Lets get those kids water safe and on their way to a happy, safe summer!
You can find Charlotte Swim Academy at:
9315 Monroe Road, #A
Charlotte, NC 28270
704-845-8377
www.facebook.com/CharlotteSwimAcademy
