Our Children’s Journey with Swim With Me

When it comes to our two children, Elle and Charlie, my partner Carla and I like to think we’ve done a reasonably good job of raising two bright, happy and confident little people. Both are full of character, love being active and have absolutely no shortage of energy. Unfortunately, one thing they also have in common is a rather selective approach to listening to their parents. This isn’t necessarily a problem most of the time, although it does become slightly inconvenient when you’re trying to teach them something that involves keeping their heads above water!

You see, both our kids have always absolutely loved swimming. Or, to be more accurate, they’ve always loved being in the water. Actually swimming was another matter entirely. And whilst Carla and I had made a few attempts to teach them ourselves, it was becoming increasingly obvious that our qualifications as swimming instructors were somewhat lacking. Apparently, being able to swim yourself doesn’t automatically mean your children will listen when you try to explain how to do it. Who knew?

So, when Elle was seven and Charlie was three, we decided it was probably time to leave the teaching to people who actually knew what they were doing. This is the story of how we found Swim-With-Me, and how our two little water-loving lunatics have progressed from splashing around in armbands to developing some pretty impressive swimming skills. Well, one of them has become a particularly impressive swimmer. The other is still working on remembering that instructions aren’t merely suggestions, but we’ll get to that shortly.

Our Attempts at Teaching the Kids to Swim (With Limited Success…)

Before joining Swim-With-Me, our swimming routine generally involved taking the kids to Bannatyne’s gym in Colchester once a week. These were lovely family sessions, and both children thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Unfortunately, they were considerably more interested in playing around than developing anything resembling proper swimming technique.

Elle, who was seven at the time, could just about tread water and was becoming reasonably comfortable without her armbands. She’s a very independent, cheeky and playful little girl who knows her own mind. All admirable qualities, of course, unless you’re trying to persuade her to concentrate on something when she’d much rather be doing something else. Every attempt to teach her the basics of front crawl generally ended with her disappearing off to splash about instead. Apparently, having your dad explain swimming technique isn’t nearly as interesting as doing whatever you fancy.

Charlie, meanwhile, was a different proposition altogether. At three years old, he couldn’t swim without armbands, but what he lacked in swimming ability he more than made up for in enthusiasm. And by enthusiasm, I mean he would happily launch himself into the deep end without giving the consequences a second thought. Charlie is an incredibly bright little boy, full of energy and personality, but he can also be rather hyperactive and finds concentrating on instructions a bit of a challenge. His listening ears, much like his sister’s, occasionally appear to be purely decorative.

We also visited Leisure World in Colchester from time to time, although expecting children to concentrate on learning to swim when there are waterslides, play pools and all sorts of other exciting distractions is probably asking a bit much.

Now, none of this would have been especially concerning if our children had been content to paddle about in the shallow end. Unfortunately, both Elle and Charlie have always been completely fearless around water. We love spending summer days at the beach, but these outings were becoming something of an endurance test for Carla and me, as we spent a considerable amount of time preventing our offspring from attempting to swim from Frinton to Holland. I’m sure the Dutch are lovely people, but I wasn’t particularly keen on the children visiting them unaccompanied!

It was becoming increasingly obvious that although the kids had plenty of confidence in the water, they didn’t necessarily have the swimming ability to back it up. And that, as any parent will appreciate, isn’t a particularly reassuring combination.

Something needed to change. Preferably before Charlie decided to test whether he could swim across the North Sea, haha.

Enter Swim-With-Me!

Like most people looking for a service these days, I turned to Google and searched for children’s swimming lessons in Colchester. Several companies appeared, but Swim-With-Me immediately stood out to us. Their website seemed friendly and professional, the lessons looked fun and the instructors appeared to know what they were doing. Which, given our previous attempts at teaching the children ourselves, was already a significant improvement.

After reading through their Trustpilot reviews and discovering they were an STA Gold-recognised swimming school, we decided to take the plunge. Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.

We booked both children into Friday afternoon lessons at Lifestyle Health & Leisure Club in Marks Tey, just outside Colchester. This worked particularly well for us because neither Carla nor I work on Fridays, meaning we could collect the children from school and head straight over. The venue itself was convenient, with plenty of free parking, and the swimming pool was attached to a hotel. The pool wasn’t particularly large, but a floating partition separated the children’s teaching area from the section used by other swimmers, and there was a comfortable viewing area where parents could sit and watch the lessons.

The classes were 30 minutes long and organised according to swimming ability rather than simply age. Charlie’s group had around three or four other children, whilst Elle was in a class with three others of roughly her own age. This immediately appealed to us, as we felt the smaller groups would give the instructors a fighting chance of keeping our children focused. Particularly Charlie, who has an attention span that can occasionally make a goldfish look positively scholarly!

Their first instructor was Erin, a young schoolteacher who was absolutely wonderful with the kids. She made them feel welcome straight away, clearly knew her stuff and, perhaps most impressively of all, actually managed to get them to listen to her instructions.

Now, I don’t want to exaggerate here, but witnessing both of our children listening attentively to an adult explaining swimming technique was something of a revelation. Carla and I had been attempting this for months with very limited success, yet Erin seemed to have cracked the code almost immediately. I briefly considered asking whether she offered lessons in getting children to tidy their bedrooms, but decided not to push my luck.

What really impressed us was how she managed to make the lessons fun whilst still teaching the fundamentals of swimming. The children were enjoying themselves, but they were also learning. A rather novel concept compared with our previous family swimming sessions!

Charlie’s Progress:

Fast forward a little over a year, and the progress both children have made has been fantastic. Although, as you might expect, their journeys have been rather different.

Let’s start with Charlie.

Now four years old, Charlie has gone from being completely reliant on armbands to being able to tread water and making some really encouraging progress towards swimming independently. He’s developing his front crawl and has even moved up into the next swimming group, which is a brilliant achievement considering where he started.

Has he suddenly transformed into a calm, attentive little boy who follows every instruction without question? Absolutely not. That would be ridiculous. This is Charlie we’re talking about!

He’s still full of beans, still occasionally gets distracted and still has moments when his listening ears appear to have packed their bags and gone on holiday. But the difference is that he’s now developing actual swimming skills to go alongside all that confidence.

Over the course of his lessons, he’s been taught by Erin, Chrissie and, more recently, Swim-With-Me’s owners, Tracie and JJ. All of them have shown tremendous patience with him, which, knowing Charlie as well as we do, is no small achievement. They’ve persevered, encouraged him and found ways to keep him engaged without taking the fun out of swimming.

And it really is paying off!

We’re hoping that by next summer he’ll have developed his swimming skills even further, which will certainly give Carla and me a little more peace of mind when we’re visiting Leisure World, spending days at the beach or taking our paddleboard and kayak out along the River Stour. Obviously, we’ll still be keeping a very close eye on him around water, but having a child who is beginning to understand how to swim rather than simply throwing himself into the nearest available body of water is a rather welcome development.

Although I suspect he’ll still be throwing himself into the water whenever the opportunity presents itself. Some things never change.

Elle’s Progress:

Now, whilst Charlie has made some excellent progress, the real surprise has been Elle.

When she first started swimming lessons, she could just about tread water and was considerably more interested in messing around than listening to anyone trying to teach her. As I mentioned earlier, she’s always been fiercely independent, and persuading her to do something she doesn’t particularly fancy can be an interesting experience. Usually involving a fair amount of negotiation, followed by her doing whatever she was planning to do in the first place.

But something about the lessons at Swim-With-Me really clicked with her.

Over the past year, Elle has come on in leaps and bounds. She’s now a genuinely proficient swimmer, with excellent progress in her front crawl, backstroke and even breaststroke. She’s moved up several swimming groups as her ability has improved, and the difference between the girl who first walked into that pool and the swimmer she is today is quite remarkable.

In fact, Chrissie was so impressed with her progress that she suggested Elle should consider a trial for a local swimming team.

Yes, you read that correctly. A swimming team!

This is the same child who, not so long ago, would barely listen when I tried to explain how to move her arms properly. And now one of her swimming instructors thinks she might be ready to take her swimming to a competitive level. I’m not suggesting we’re about to have the next Olympic swimming champion on our hands, although I suppose we should probably start clearing some space on the mantelpiece just in case haha.

Joking aside, Carla and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

She’s also due to start swimming lessons with her school soon, and I have a sneaking suspicion she’ll be rather pleased with herself when she gets the opportunity to show off her newly acquired skills. Knowing Elle, she’ll probably make sure everyone knows about them too!
But the really lovely thing has been watching her develop into such a confident and capable swimmer. She’s still the same cheeky, independent little girl, of course, but she’s now got the swimming skills to match her enthusiasm for the water.

And that’s entirely thanks to the excellent teaching she’s received.

So, Would We Recommend Swim-With-Me?

Well, considering I’ve just spent the best part of this article telling you how much progress our children have made, you can probably guess the answer. But just in case you haven’t been paying attention (Charlie, is that you?), the answer is a resounding yes!

What we’ve particularly appreciated about Swim-With-Me is that the instructors seem to understand that children aren’t all the same. Elle and Charlie have very different personalities and started their lessons with different abilities, yet both have been encouraged and supported in ways that work for them.

The small classes have certainly helped, as has the patience and enthusiasm of the instructors. At no point have we felt that either child was being rushed or pressured to progress at a particular speed. Instead, they’ve been allowed to develop their swimming skills whilst continuing to enjoy being in the water.

And that’s really what we wanted from the beginning.

We weren’t expecting Elle to become a potential swimming team member, nor were we expecting Charlie to be moving up through the swimming groups quite so quickly. We simply wanted them to learn to swim properly, become more capable in the water and develop the skills that will hopefully serve them well throughout their lives.

The fact that they’ve both made such fantastic progress has been a very welcome bonus.

So, a huge thank you to Erin, Chrissie, Tracie, JJ and the rest of the Swim-With-Me team. You’ve done an absolutely brilliant job with our two little water babies, and Carla and I genuinely couldn’t be happier with the results.

If you’re a parent looking for children’s swimming lessons in Colchester or the surrounding area, I’d have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Swim-With-Me. Our experience at their Marks Tey venue has been fantastic, and judging by how much both children look forward to their Friday afternoon lessons, I think they’d agree.

Although, if anyone at Swim-With-Me happens to be reading this, I do have one small request.

Any chance you could teach them to listen to their parents as well?

Just a thought haha!

Lee, dad to Elle and Charlie