Category: Swimming lessons

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3 years and beyond Swimming lessons

Swimming for all, not just for the lucky 10,000

I was watching the Today show on channel nine this morning, and they mentioned the Uncle Toby’s Swim Kids program. They are trying to raise funds to help 10,000 less fortunate kids to learn to swim, it is called operation 10,000.

In this article about operation 10,000 it states that there has been a decline of kids having swimming lessons. Well I think I know why, it is the cost. That is why kids cannot participate, their parents cannot afford the lessons, so kids miss out and don’t learn the skills. As stated my previous post called, “The extreme cost of activities for kids“, it is due to the high cost of the lessons and the fact that if you have 2 or more children, how do you keep up with the lesson, school payments, and all other extra things that you need to get for your children.

On the Today show, it mentioned that drowning is a problem that happens with young children, and it is preventable. I agree totally. Below is a quote form the Uncle Toby’s website.

“Drowning is a leading cause of preventable death in children aged 0-4 years. More than 50 children between the ages of 0-17 drown in Australia every year, highlighting the importance of swimming and water safety education for all Australian children.”

Uncle Toby’s is lobbying that swimming and water safety be part of the school curriculum. That is a great idea and something that I think will help all kids. It needs to be made into a reality, another thing that needs to be made into a reality is lowering the costs of swimming lessons so that all kids no matter where they live, and what situation the family is in can have swimming lessons.

Also why should we just choose a select 10,000. I do understand that it is cost associated and funding all kids nationally is expensive, but I think that is what we need to do. It is a skill that we all need to have. As you can see from my post on the extreme costs of activities for kids, that we were able to afford lessons for a while, but with kids going to pre-school, and the fact that currently I am not in paid employment we cannot afford to continue with lessons. We will need to try and teach the girls ourselves.

We live on an island surrounded by water, we need to know how to swim to save lives, our life and others. Also swimming is an enjoyable, relaxing thing to do that helps with your health and well being.

I believe that we should fund a program that has cheap or at least free lessons to all kids. This should be a government funded program that is funded with taxes or maybe a corporate sponsor. I am not sure how it would work. I think that the work that Uncle Toby’s is doing and also Grant Hackett is great, however it is just a start. At least it is creating awareness of this issue.

What are your thoughts on this subject?  I am going to contact my local MP and see if something can be done. Also will be seeing what the process is with dealing with Council to see about my questions in my post about extreme costs with kids activities.  Let me know what you have done in your area to help?

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3 years and beyond Katoomba Hospital Swimming lessons

The extreme cost of activities for kids

Why is it that extra activities for kids are so expensive, swimming, tumbling, gym, dancing and much more. I would like to have the girls continue with their swimming lessons and also to be able to do tumbling lessons. This is not going to happen due to the cost.  Just to give you an example of the cost:

  • Swimming lessons for 10 weeks ( a school term) – $140
  • Tumbling lessons for 10 weeks ( a school term) –  $125 plus $32.50 annual gymnastic NSW membership fee

The price above for each activity is for 1 child. So as I have 2 children, I would need to double it. So the costs would be:

  • Swimming lessons for 10 weeks ( a school term) – $280.00
  • Tumbling lessons for 10 weeks ( a school term) –  $315.00

My question is, how does the average family give their children exposure to these sort of activities? With the girls going to pre-school 3 days per week, there is no way we will be able to cough up extra money for anything else. Last year we were able to give the girls about 3 sets of swimming lessons, but I don’t think that will happen this year.

Lillian turns her left foot in a bit when she walks and trips over more, especially when she is tried. Nothing that strengthening the ankle or more sports would help. To do the sports and training you have to pay. I cannot just put one child into sport, I would like to put both in for the experience as well. The physiotherapist at Katoomba Hospital said tumbling classes would really help Lillian, but how do I do this when they are so expensive.

One of my other questions is why is the council pool charging so much to teach kids and babies to swim. This is a skill that can save your life, swimming is essential in Australia as we are surrounded by water and nearly everyone has a pool, goes to the pool or the beach. I believe that swimming allows you to have the ability to exercise, be safe and to participate in a great lifestyle.  Why does the council charge so much? Why cannot the fee be a token to the centre, say $20 or $50 for swimming for your children to learn. It should not be $280 to teach your kids to swim for only 10 weeks. Then after the first 10 weeks you have to pay it all again. How many school terms are there in Australia, well there is 4 terms per year. So that would mean that I would need to pay Katoomba Pool, $1120.00 for a year of tutuion for swimming lessons.

Learning to swim should be free or nearly free. From my conversations in the Blue Mountains, NSW, there are a lot of people and kids that don’t know how to swim. What happens when these kids go to their swimming carnival at school? Is it then the schools job to teach kids to swim? Do schools have a learn to swim programme? I am not sure and have not found out, so if someone knows please let me know.

I grew up in North Queensland, Hervey Bay to be precise and I swam at a young age. We were close to a beach at all times, always on a boat and had to swim.  I think everyone has a right to save their lives and others by knowing how to swim. I love swimming and really enjoy it, I cannot imagine not knowing how.

So this year, I think we will take the kids swimming ourselves and teach them swimming techniques. We also cannot take them to tumbling classes no matter how much I would hope to do it. Julia and Lillian’s balance and ability are so great, that I would like to build on it, and have them do something active that is also healthy. For a society that is worried about weight gain, overweight and obese kids they are definitely not doing anything to help families with easily accessible activities.

Why is it now a matter of how much money you have, if you can learn to swim or not. Money is not the issue, it is making sure that the government/council makes this available at all levels. Learning to swim is something everyone needs to know how to do, rich or poor.

Do you have the same concerns over costs for children’s activities? Do we need to get like minded people together to see if we can lower costs? Should we have an online petition for the council to do something about this? Let me know your thoughts.

Categories
3 years and beyond Swimming lessons

Julia in the wars

This morning Julia hurt herself.  I heard the scream and on opening the door found Julia in tears and so upset. I later found out that they had been climbing the change table (otherwise known as the castle) and Julia had fallen and landed on the edge of the bed, corner side on her cheek. She has a nasty bruise and a red mark that looks very sore. Yesterday she got bitten on the shoulder blade by her sister, it was a very deep bite and still don’t know why this happened. I put Lillian in time out and she then apologised to Julia and was then able to enjoy in our painting in the dining room.

The weather is so bad that it is constantly raining so thinking of things to do is a full time task. I have managed to keep the girls active and interested in things, but it is a challenge and a full time job, bring on pre-school.

Oh well, aside from the injury that Julia yet again suffered, the girls were asking to go to Spingwood Pool again. They desperately wanted to go swimming, we relented and thought that it would be something that would allow the girls to practice their swimming, would be fun and also tire them out.

As we were all at the pool today, James suggested that the girls try the water slide. The girls could not wear their back boards on the slide, they had to go up with James and I was down the bottom to catch them and to put the back board floaty back on. Both girls are very good at swimming, and keeping themselves upright, however they really still need the floatation device on. I was very worried about the whole thing, that they would panic in the slide, they would be stuck or something horrible like have a terrible accident due to not being able to swim without the back board. Basically I was very concerned. James thought that they were ready.

Julia went down first. She loved it. Then Lillian came out. I asked her if she wanted to go again and she screamed, “No”. So that was fine. Julia went up again with Daddy and I stayed down the bottom to catch her and to attach the back board when she was in my arms. The second time was not so lucky, she said that Daddy pushed her. He only pushed her to be in the water to manage to slide down the tube. It was the same thing that happened for the first go, however I think it was more noticeable to her this time. She was upset. I then manged to attack her accidentally with the clips for the back board. I was so upset that I accidentally hurt her and it was not intentional. Poor little Julia bear, as she is called by her Aunty Kay. She has had a bad trot the last day or so.

We were lucky that after that she was happy to be in the pool and playing with her sister. She was pleased that there was going to be no more slide and that playing in the pool and wetting Daddy and Mummy were her primary goal. Julia and Lillian are really enjoying putting their heads under the water, floating on their backs and kicking their legs, both of the girls are really coming along really well with their swimming. Very proud indeed.

After the pool we went off to get some fish and chips to take home. We all must have been hungry as we have never ever finished a family box. Lillian was very good, she ate calamari, crab, chips and fish. Julia ate some fish but only after we bargained with her. Eat the fish and you get more chips.

Have you ever had a day that one child is in the wars more so than usual? Would love to hear your stories.

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2 Years and beyond Potty Training Swimming lessons

Big day – Swimming, Snow, and No nappy please!

The girls experiencing snow for the first time
The girls experiencing snow for the first time

Today the girls were off to their swimming lesson. It was a saga to get both the girls organised and especially Julia in her swimmers. She kept on saying “I don’t want to go swimming, I want to stay home!” Oh well, I finally go her dressed in her swimmers and in some clothes and jacket, the same with Lillian. The wind was so loud and fast that it was very scary to hear it in the house, I was not looking forward to going outside at all, although I had to. I was happy that the lesson is only for 30mins and once inside it is nice and warm. Just the issue is
getting to and fro from the car.  To give you an idea of what the temperature was this morning here is the breakdown for temperature and wind speed :

  • Current temp 9.1°C
  • Recorded min: 5°C
  • Recorded max: n/a
  • Feels like: 4.3°C
  • Humidity: 64%
  • Rainfall since 9am: 0.0mm
  • Wind: WNW 50km/h
  • Wind gusts: 89km/h

The girls finished their lesson and wanted to go to the wading pool. They are so much more confident now as they went up to the water that sprays out and put their head under it. They were having a great time. After that we went home as it was just so cold. We all had lunch and off to bed went the girls for their day rest and my chance to do some things for me or housekeeping (oh the joys). As they are not sleeping well together during the day the girls are seperated, one in the porta cot and one in the bedroom, each child has a turn in the porta cot so it is not like a punishment. During my time out, Lillian who was in the lounge room was screaming and crying.  I went in to see what the problem was, I was then told that there was a monster. I cuddled her and told her that I will tell the monster to go away. She liked this idea. However it was not just Lilian who was not happy. Julia was crying and screaming as well. Maybe it was the scary wind.

Decided to get them both up and cuddle them and maybe we should watch a film and then get ready for dinner. However during the nappy change time, I realised it was snowing. Who knew, but it was so cold that I thought it might happen. Oh well, lets get dressed so that we can all go out and experience the snow, it was just flakes but it was coming down and managed to close the highway at Mt Victoria to Lithgow today – http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/everything-is-all-white-heavy-snow-falls–in-parts-of-nsw-20110621-1gd5j.html.

Also the other amazing thing that has happened today is that in the change room of the swimming pool, Julia told me that she did not want a nappy on. I tried to fight it at first and then decided to see if she was going to remain dry and clean. She did that until after lunch when we were at home. I took her out of her pants and put her in dora the explorer undies and she was great. A very clever little girl. Also at the pool she used the big toliet like last week and I was so impressed by how well she is doing. Today at home she has kept dry mostly and has used the potty about 4-5 times and done about 3 wees and tried to do a pooh but had an accident. Lilian this afternoon also insisted on having undies on as well and did a wee in the potty. So that is such great news. Nana (my mum) has purchased the girls an Elmo Chicken toy and when they do something amazing in the potty they get to play with it. So this afternoon it was Elmo Chicken, Dancing, Snow, Stickers and many cuddles and kisses to show that they are doing such a great job.

Maybe this is the start of no nappies??? I have always been told that the child will let you know. Maybe this is Julia saying I don’t want to wear a nappy anymore? I was so focused on trying to get them potty trained that it was not working, that I have just given up and done things in small stages. Currently they have been doing it when they want to, and Julia has been more interested than Lilian other than today. I was so amazed and taken a back that I did not know what to say. I suppose I just have to keep plodding along to see if this works and maybe by 3 years of age, the girls will be potty trained. Well I can hope, but with the warmer weather again, I was going to make a bigger effort again. Problem is that I don’t want to push to hard that it does not help the training effort, So I am very pleased about today and it all came from Julia and also Lillian.

 

Categories
Potty Training Swimming lessons

Wet and off to swimming lessons

Today it is cold, foggy and pouring with rain, and yes I have to go out with the girls. We are off to swimming lessons.  I was good today, managed to get there on time. It is hard to find a park near the centre, and manage to get yourself and 2 kids into the pool centre in one piece. Thanks to the show Peper Pig the girls are trying to run off to jump in muddy puddles. All not good when you are trying to hold hands of 2 kids, have rain pouring down and have a backback plus a bag for the towels. It was 6 degrees but felt like 3 degrees this morning when we left for the pool. If it were not for kids I would still be in bed, snuggled up with my doona and having a nice rest and much needed sleep. Oh well, we all managed to get inside without much fuss today, which was good. Not like previous weeks.

The girls are doing so well at swimming, no floaties just back boards. They are kicking and now Tanya their instructor is trying to teach them the arm movements for a free style stroke. Julia did more than Lillian but it is a start. Also Julia blows the bubbles and seems to be happier about putting her head in the water.

The girls at their swimming lessons

After the swim the girls and I were in the change room and from last week I noticed that they seem to want to go to the toliet after swimming. So asked if they needed help with the big toliet. Julia wanted to go and wanted some assistance to sit on it but managed to hang on herself. So that was great, was pleased with that. Then she did a wee wee, Yes, more progress. Asked if Lillian wanted to go on the toliet as well and she said, “No, did a wee wee in my nappy”,”O>k,, would you need to do anything else”, I said, “No mummy”answered Lillian. So shower, change of clothes and off to Kid Kingdom with a mate from swimming lessons. The girls looked so tired when we got home.

They had lunch, some milk and now afternoon nap time. Now it is my turn to do some work for at least an hour or so. My last university assignment for the semester. Need to get cracking it is due on the 19th of June, 2011.  Crossing fingers I do well. We will see.