Ashley's Swimming Lessons

Unlike Katelyn, who’s a fearless monkey, Ashley was afraid of the water, and would cling to us in the pool every time we went swimming. She was afraid to let go. But, at the beginning of this summer Ashley asked me to sign her up for swimming lessons. She told me she wants to learn to swim like our neighbors Emma and Liam (her two best friends), it was obvious that she was ready for it. I signed her up for a 10 week session at the Five Star Aquatic Center next to my office, to go once a week for 30 minute class.

The first class Ashley was terrified, she saw the other two kids putting their faces in the water with goggles on, and floating on their backs, and she took off and ran out of the pool. The instructor was very patient, and he helped her get over her fear and by the end the first class she was so excited that she could do what the other kids were doing that she didn’t want her lesson to end. That day we went out and bought Ashley her own pair of goggles.

The second week when we returned, she floated on her back by herself for 5 seconds!! And wasn’t afraid to put her face in the water and blow bubbles. The one week improvement was unbelievable! Ashley gained confidence in the water really quick, plus with some practice in our neighbor’s pool, she actually figured out that she can float and swim by herself with a bubble on. Here’s a video of the first day that she swam by herself with a bubble on:

Yesterday was Ashley’s last swimming lesson of this session. She’s mastered swimming short distances with her face in the water, and floating for 10 seconds. She’s not afraid to jump into the pool from standing position at the edge, and she can pull herself up and out of the pool by grabbing to the side!

Here are some videos from her swimming class two weeks ago:





Out of the four kids in her class she improved the most. She can swim on her back holding on to a board, she can float on her back for 10 seconds or more, and yesterday she was able to swim without any help all of the way across the short end of the pool! She was the only one in her class to be able to do it! We couldn’t be more proud of her! She’s ready to move up to the next level, and that session will start in September and go all the way through December. I can’t wait to see her do even more!