LEARNING TO SWIM

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21216, 10 December 1938, Page 11

LEARNING TO SWIM

“JOHN” HAS A LESSON PRACTICE AT THE BATHS Swimming, like cycling, is easiest to learn when very young, and if the strokes are learnt correctly not only provides ideal evercise for children too young to enjoy vigorous games but also gives them a valuable sense of rhythmic movement, states a writer in the “Manchester Guardian.” It is, however, a mistake to expect young children to learn to swim in the open air, even in hot weather, as the water is too cold for comfort for more than a few minutes at a time, unless one can swim. One has only to watch children in bathing suits playing on the beach to realise that they seldom get wet above the knees unless urged by an enthusiastic parent in a mistaken endeavour to teach: them to swim. Parents are not as a rule the best teachers, fathers being too impatient, mothers too nervous to be able to inspire in their pupils that complete confidence which is the first essential in learning to swim. A plan which the writer has found admirable is to arrange for a series of bi-weekly swimming lessons from the instructor at the local swimming baths during the long vacation. Under the guidance of the skilled teacher these lessons have become even more popular than picnics with John, aged seven, perhaps because they are never cancelled on account of the weather. It was found that morning is the most suitable time, as the young pupil is fresh and the baths are quiet. The “Ship’s Engine” However fond of dabbling in water a child may be his first visit to baths is rather intimidating, even though he has shown only delight in first coming upon the sea. It is in helping the young child to overcome his fear that the modern teacl rr shows his skill. Introducing John to a little girl, he said, “Jean is five. She will show you what she can do.” When John had watched Jean dive in and swim a width, breaststroke, he was ready to “Jump in and make as big a splash as you can, keeping hold of my hands.” Where is the child who would mind

an occasional overhead dip if asked to make splashes up to the roof? John at least did not, and was soon making big waves, or crouching under the water completely submerged, blowing bubbles and watching them rise to the surface with delight. When he nad learnt to walk on tiptoe in water up to his chin, keeping his balance by paddling with his hands, he was given a ride all round the swimming bath. Lying on his back with John sitting astride amidships, Mr B. soon arrived lat the deep end, where John landed. On the return journey he was to be the ship's engine. With complete confidence he lowered himself backwards on to his “ship” and kicked vigorously, for if the engine stopped, he was told, the ship would sink. “I can swim,” he announced proudly on landing. “I towed Mr B. from the other end.” An hour was all too short for such delights. “Would it cost too much daddy, to have a swimming lesson with Mr B. from the time the baths open in the morning till they close at night?” he asked. Formal teaching of strokes came in later lessons, but so well seasoned with play and “water tricks” that the sheer delight in being in water and complete confidence in his teacher have never been lost. The presence of an elder was soon dispensed with, and since John in his turn was promoted to demonstrate for newcomers the biweekly visits to the swimmings baths have become almost daily ones and the holidays so far show no signs of dragging.