804 meters.....
2640 feet.......
OR
50 lengths of the swimming pool at our local campsite!
We have been camping pretty much every weekend, for the last two months. Always at the same campsite, and most weekends we have Monkey joining us. Up until recently Monkey has not really been a fan of the swimming pool, following some bad experiences which had understandably put him off, he had pretty much sworn himself off of swimming ever again. However, a few weeks ago we managed to coerce him back to the pool on a day when it was not so busy (it also helped that it was a really hot day and pretty much the best way to cool off)
Having not been in a pool for at least a year probably more, his swimming was un-practiced but most of all he had very little confidence in the water. But he braved the water and worked through his fears, and has spent the last three weekends in the pool, practicing his swimming with the goal of being able to swim in time for his vacation later in the month.
Wolf and I have watched on proudly as has gone from strength to strength, and we have enjoyed being a part of this journey for him, albeit a short journey thus far, but it has been a journey nonetheless.
Three weeks ago Monkey's greatest ability was swimming doggy paddle across one width, and that was about it.
Two weeks ago he swam an entire length, so that afternoon we taught him how to swim a more effective front crawl, not splashing about so much, putting his face in the water and breathing properly. How amazed we were when he went on to swim 10 lengths on just his second week of swimming!
This past weekend, he started swimming and just didn't stop... half a mile later, yes.. HALF A MILE later he finally ran out of steam. It started as "I'd like to swim 10 lengths"... he realised he had done that easily, so decided to do 20, after 20 it wasn't much more to 30 and so we continued until finally with a big smile on his face he completed his 50th length.
Exhausted and hungry, we walked around to the local tea shop for a celebratory cream tea (with extra clotted cream for him) as is only fitting after such a triumph!
CONGRATULATIONS MONKEY!
What a fantastic achievement! My two love swimming although the 5yo is still learning but a very important life skill. Very jealous of the cream tea too!
ReplyDeleteI agree, its definitely an important life skill, and its not like when we were kids we had swimming lessons at school, I don't think they do that anymore. The cream tea down here is delicious and is Monkey's favourite thing, the more clotted cream the better!
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