#12 of my 101 in 1,001 Adventure is COMPLETE! Safety is a Mama’s number one priority. I have always been terrified of E being around water, probably a little more so than the average Mama, because when she was younger she nearly drowned at the beach. It was very traumatic for me and I’ve always been extra cautious..
She HAD to wear a life vest any time in the pool or near water (I didn’t care if she was fishing – she had it on in case she fell in).. I also HAD to be with her in the pool because although I trusted other adults my anxiety just couldn’t let go unless I could physically see she was okay.
Once we hit summer this year, she attended Summer Camp and they take a weekly trip to the community pool. In past years, we didn’t allow her to attend pool days because again my anxiety couldn’t handle the ratio of kids to counselors, especially knowing she couldn’t swim yet. This year, however, she wanted to go.. so I put on my brave Mama face and allowed her to go on one condition – she became a little more confident in her swimming before she went.
As an infant, she attended swim lessons with a local private instructor – Ms. Sarah at Pediaquatics. She was amazing! If you are local to Citrus County (or surrounding area) and don’t have an awesome friend like Ms. Nancy to help, I highly recommend! She is high in demand and books fast, so I would look into her early if you’re interested. There are scholarship opportunities available through her sponsors for Citrus County residents only (until funds are exhausted).
We continued with refresher classes in future years, but eventually withdrew & when we did her confidence in swimming also dropped. At that time, we did not have a pool to keep practicing on our own. I did my best to work with her, but I wanted her to be confident on her own. Enter my beautiful friend Ms. Nancy!
Her and I volunteered together on a local non-profit board when I found out she used to be a swim coach. I asked her for some tips to help E and she offered to help her! We went for our first lesson with Ms. Nancy and I left in tears at the progress made in one hour with her!
Nancy was so patient and sweet with her. She provided her the foundational tips she needed to float to survive should she ever fall in water and be unable to swim (or for when she gets tired & needs a break). She told E that in a few lessons she could take a swim test with her and earn a medal. That was all the motivation she needed!
They continued to work on techniques and by her third lesson E told Ms. Nancy she was ready to test for her medal! She jumped into the shallow end, swam to the deep end and pulled herself out of the pool. She then jumped back into the deep end & floated until she was told to swim where she swam all the way back to the shallow end! She did the entire test on her own with the exception of a little gentle reassurance during the float. She was so excited to have earned her medal!
Ever since she has been a fish in the pool. She has gained the confidence we both needed her to have to be safe in the pool! E asks to go to her house to swim and can’t wait to go back to work on more techniques! Ms. Nancy will never know how much that medal she gave E meant to the both of us!