Kye LOVES to swim! I’m so thankful we enrolled him in survival swim when he was younger and that we have continued lessons over the years. He has been super, super excited to do stroke lessons and has talked about how when he grows up he wants to be an “olympic swimmer.” I decided to book him at Tiny Bubbles for lessons as the same time Britt had her survival swim (mega long post coming up!). He swam two days a week for 30 min each time for 6 weeks and had several other children in his class throughout that time period. It wasn’t ever the same kids consistently and I’m not really sure why? Maybe those kids just did a few lessons or something instead of the class?
On the first day Kye had a BLAST and when it was over he just stripped off his bathing suit in front of everyone to change clothes haha. It made me realize it was time to have “the talk” about how we need to keep our privates “private” 😉 It was a learning process throughout swim and he did get better about going into the changing room to change. We are just not super shy at home about nudity so he doesn’t know any better but I def think he’s old enough to be mindful of covering up when in public for sure!
He learned SO much in these lessons. Prior to lessons he was struggling with “kicking” in his star fish rather than swimming. He’d just float where he wanted to go but by the end of the classes he was doing SO much better LEGIT swimming! He learned how to do “big circles” with both arms and it is hilarious to watch. It was difficult for me to be able to fully watch his lessons because I was either dealing with Britt prior to her lesson or was trying to watch her swim so I appreciated the times when Zach got to come or when Britt no longer had swim (hers was only 5 weeks whereas his was 6) so I could give him more of my full attention and learn what he was learning so we can practice at home!
Kye learned to swim across the whole pool completely by himself which was really exciting! It will make it MUCH easier for me to have both kids in the pool this summer because I will be able to practice Britt’s swim and have Kye practice by swimming across the pool to the other side 🙂
Kye ADORES Mrs Margie and had been asking for months when he could go see her!
More than anything I was SO proud of Kye and his listening!!! The other kids in his class would be splashing in the water and playing around and Kye never, not ONCE, did any of that. He watched Mrs. Margie and did everything she told him to do. Many times other children lost the privilege to go down the slide after lessons, but Kye got to go down every single time! Zach and I kept praising him for his great listening and told him that a “good listener is a good learner” as Big Daddy always says 😉 It’s so true though! Because he listened so well and behaved so well he DID learn more!
It was also a good lesson for Kye in using manners even when Mommy and Daddy aren’t around. The first day of swim he asked Mrs Margie if he could get a sucker and she let him and I asked if he said “thank you” and he said that he didn’t. I talked to him about why we use nice manners and how it’s ALWAYS important and I was SO proud to hear him thank her every time after that all on his own 🙂 He’s growing up and there is nothing better than to see your child making good choices on their own!
Loved having Daddy watch!
Listening so well!
Both kids swimming at once!
Kye was also a great example for Brittlynn. He loved swim so much and was so excited to go every day that I think it helped her be more into it as well. It was the cutest thing to me how he’d look over at her a lot while she was swimming to make sure she was okay 🙂 He didn’t like hearing her screams for sure! He was a BIG cheerleader for her and really did such a good job praising her and didn’t fuss at all that I was having to give her more of my time and attention than I was able to give him. He is so understanding of that and never has jealousy issues. I made sure to build him up a lot too and tried to sneak over and get as many pictures and videos as I could of him!
Shark Arms
Zach was able to come watch him twice (once was on his Birthday and Kye LOVED that he got to swim on his special day!) and Mrs. Charlotte and Casey even came to watch! He was SO proud to have people there cheering him on and they got lucky to be there the day that they first started having races across the pool. Kye won his first ever race!!! Olympics here we come 😉
Here’s some notes from Kye’s stroke lessons, I try very hard to use the same terms that they use so I can keep him on track until he has lessons again this winter!
- It’s good to have him do “shark arms” (where both arms are pointed up and touching) and have him squeeze his ears while doing them
- To learn stroke I need to tell him to do “big circles” with his arms
- I can also have him put one arm on his belly and do circles with the other arm to practice
- By the last day he did AWESOME at resting in his star fish and not kicking!
- Breast stroke prep is “slicing the pizza” where I can have him put his arms out then curve hands out and do a big circle around.
- Kye will try to hold his breath longer than he should in order to swim further so I need to encourage him to stop and get air as needed. Mrs Margie said that’s a common boy thing 😉 They are all about “winning!”
- “Chicken, T, Soldier” is so funny to hear them say and to watch but doing those motions (arms out like a chicken, then like a t, then straight at sides like a soldier) are important for him to practice and I need to remind him to do the motions nice and easy and not rush through them
- Have him do the “chicken, t, soldier” while on his back to practice back stroke!
- I need to get some diving rings as he LOVED getting them off the bottom of the pool! I have him jump feet first off the steps (he may need a push) then go get them and when he comes up with them have him immediately go into starfish.
They told me more than anything to have the kids practice KICKING all the time! The more they kick, the better to develop those muscles!
Chicken!
T!
Along with pictures, I tried to get a good bit of videos through his lesson. Pictures are fun, but videos REALLY show what he’s learning!
- Day 1 Shark Arms
- First time ever doing “circle arms”
- Swimming with hands on head
- Here he was supposed to swim from the slide to the steps but it shows how at the start of lessons he struggled with just kicking in his starfish to get where he wanted to go!
- Swimming multiple “strokes”
- Doing both arms in “big circles”
- Racing across the pool!
- Swimming across the pool
- Another of the big circle arms
- And another, the big circle arms are just so fun to watch 😉
I took a LOT of videos his last day of swim because Zach kept Britt at home (she had already graduated from her class) and I was able to give him 100% of my attention! I lovedddddd getting to see him and see his BIG grin every time he looked my way!!!! Ignore the screaming child in the background…I was proud that Kye didn’t let her freaking out phase him one bit or dampen his fun on his last day 🙂
- Circle Arms
- Almost across the pool with circle arms
- LOVE how he climbs up out of the pool!!! Doing “breast” type stroke (pizza slices)
- Chicken, T, Soldier!
- Favorite thing: the SLIDE 😉
G-Mama gave each kid a super cute towel for doing so great with swim!
I am SO PROUD of Kye! Not only for how far he has come with his swimming, but especially with how wonderfully behaved he is and how well he listens to instructions. I know those qualities are going to take him so far in life 🙂 It’s so awesome to me how he just turned FOUR and is legit swimming! Most kids this age are just starting to get out of using “swimmies” and Kye is able to do basic stroke techniques. I will brag on Tiny Bubbles much more in Britt’s upcoming post but I am very, very thankful that Robyn introduced me to Mrs. Margie and we are so blessed to now be part of the Tiny Bubbles family! I’m thankful that Zach is so passionate about our kids learning swim like this and that we have actually set it up as part of our budget to tuck away money each month to make sure the kids can have swim each year!!! No matter what your child’s age or skill level, they will learn so much at Tiny Bubbles and it’s worth every single penny!!!
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He is so cute! I'm really anxious to hear about Britt's class too. I wish we had a Tiny Bubbles near us, but I found a place that offers swim lessons for my 9 month old and am very excited to get him into a class too. 🙂
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