(AD) Swimming with Swimfin

Welcome to our next post on Swimfin! 

We've just had our school half term holidays and mummy and nana thought what better time to get the boys swimming! As mentioned in our previous post as James is going into Year Three in September, he will be starting to go swimming weekly and up until now the only real experience with swimming that the boys had was on holiday last year when they would splash around in the pools at the hotel and at the water park!

The pool we were going to originally take the kids to was closed for refurbishment, so we had to have a search around the local council website to see what other pools would be suitable for the boys. We eventually decided to take the boys to the new leisure centre in Ashington. The leisure centre was opened in November 2015, in fact it opened just a few days before Freddie was actually born. 

Sadly the leisure centre has a no photography in the pool area policy so we were unable to take photos of the boys in the pool using the fins.

Freddie was very unsure of his and kept asking to take it off, but we left it on til he had left the pool. In fact Freddie spent most of the 45 minutes we were there sat on the side playing with pool toys and throwing them for mummy and nana to go fetch!

James on the other hand was fantastic! We found some arm floats on the side of the pool and he had one under each arm and by the time we left the pool he was actually swimming full widths of the small pool! The Swimfin was keeping his body in the right position!

The Swimfin is suitable for children from 18 months old and it is so easy to put on with two elasticated velcro straps that fit around the body. Larger straps can be bought to use the fin with older children, The standard straps that come with the fin are a perfect size for both James who is almost 7 and Freddie who will be 4 in November. 

Swimfin say on their website "The most important thing about SwimFin is this: the more submerged it is, the more support it is giving. This means when the child is vertical, doggy paddling through the water, SwimFin will be almost completely submerged, giving maximum support. As the child’s body position becomes more horizontal, SwimFin comes out of the water giving less support. This means the child is swimming more for themselves with less and less assistance."

The boys had a brilliant time at the pool and actually asked if we could go back a few days later, which we did! We are now aiming to take them at least every other weekend if not every weekend!

We were also sent some of the Swimfin Funky Floaties pool toys, but on this occasion we forgot to take them with us, but next time they will be first thing in our swimming bag, although I think James has them earmarked for bath time!

I will keep everyone updated on James progress using his Swimfin in the run in to starting swimming lessons with the school in September!

**We were sent two blue Swimfin's and a set of Funky Floaties free of charge in exchange for this review! All views are our own!**

(AD) Swimfin - First impressions

We are absolutely thrilled to be working with the fantastic swim aid company Swimfin in our quest to get the boys swimming!

Last year when we went on holiday, the boys loved being in the pool either at the hotel or at the water park next door to our hotel! We used either armbands or flotation jackets last year but neither James or Freddie got on with them very well. 

As James will be in year three next year at school (eek when did he get so grown up), he will be starting to go swimming weekly with his class. So between now and September we are on a quest for James to learn the basics so once he starts going with the school he is confident in the water

The parcel arrived not long after we got home from the school run and both boys were really excited to open it! 

James got so excited and he cannot wait to go swimming next week in the school holidays! Now all we need to do is find a pool we can go to as the one we were going to visit is currently closed for refurbishment!

Check back soon to see how our first time using the Swimfin goes!

Puddle Ducks North East

Just before Christmas a lovely email landed in our inbox inviting Freddie and myself to try out our local puddle ducks franchise. Having been a bad mummy and not taken him swimming before we jumped at the chance to go!

We were sent a list of our local classes to chose from. The class for Freddie's age was their splashers group for babies from 6 months to 15 months. The Puddle Ducks website states for the splashers class "As they get older, your baby will begin to gain stronger back and head control.  They will now be able to swim with woggles,and jump in the pool, developing the skills elected to be strong swimmers in the future. Our splashers especially love splashing and blowing bubbles in the water."

We chose to attend the class at the new Crowne Plaza hotel in the new Stephenson Quarter behind Newcastle Central station, with a lovely teacher called Nadine.  

Sadly for me Freddie was not in the best mood and screamed his head off for virtually the whole class! He did enjoy bits of the class and did have a few moments of no screaming. 

The activities in the lesson were fantastic, however I do think they were aimed at babies who had been swimming since they were very young.

Freddie at 13 months was the oldest there and it was his first time in a swimming pool. The other babies looked to be between six months and one year and had obviously been swimming since they were quite young. I do think the classes should be aimed at ability not ages.

I do wish I had been able to do this when he was younger, but James nursery timings did fit the timings. It's only now James is in full time school we have the time to go.

I am however going to start taking both boys swimming more often and I hope Freddie will soon love the pool like I do!

Disclaimer: We received this class free of charge in exchange for this review. All words are my own and images are from https://www.puddleducks.com