Nadia et Le Bebe Nageur

It has been a few weeks since Nadia restarted her swimming class. Restarted... because she had taken baby swimming lessons in Oz before when she was still 6-month-old.

Now, we have a new routine every Sunday morning. We intentionally chose Sunday class, so we can go to the pool together. Also, Dita and I can take turn swimming with Nadia. The pool is in Porte d'Orleans area, not very far from my office. It is a small pool, special for baby swimming classes and not open for public. There are about 10 toddlers in our class. Mostly French.

Taking Nadia for a swim is always a fun experience. She is always excited and not afraid of waters. She was so used to waters back when we were still in Oz. Then there was a period when we hardly took her to the swimming pool because of the move, etc. Before we began with this Sunday swimming class, we had taken her again to a public pool once in a while. It took her a little while before she got familiar again with the waters and the old Aussie techniques.

I am personally a little disappointed with this Sunday class. Perhaps I put my expectation a little too high. Dita and I had set our standards based on our experience in Oz. Over there, swimming lessons for babies were so much fun and well structured. Babies and parents (mostly mommies) were encouraged and praised a lot. Swimming always come along with popular kid tunes, like Humpty Dumpty, which Dita is still using it with Nadia until today. She is still using the techniques she learned from Oz.

After 4 classes, I have not yet seen any progress on the way the instructor teaches the class. All she and her assistant have done is just let the parents do whatever they want with their toddlers. The only good thing is that they provide some toys and floaters (at least they are quite well equipped). And I had asked the instructor in the beginning of her teaching plans. She said for the first few weeks she would let the kids get accustomed to the waters, before starting to teach them some techniques. Some of them kids are a little younger than Nadia and never took a lesson before. Makes sense.

But for how long? I don't have the answer yet. But last week, my doubt about their teaching ability was growing even more, after seeing her assistant teach the parents how to hold the toddlers in the waters. The technique was okay. It is just the method. This shy assistant was trying to lead the class, whilst the old teacher was trying to encourage people to sing a French song whilst swinging our babies gently! Yet, she could not pick a single song or perhaps she did not know much of the French kid songs. Until... suddenly Dita started with Fais Do-do.... and the other parents (and they are French!) follow!

Another funnny thing. Two weeks ago, the teacher asked the parents to encourage their toddlers to jump to the waters from a slider. She gathered everyone around and explained the tricks. Of course, she would start with an example. She picked a boy called Matthieu, about the same age as Nadia, who always comes only with his daddy. The teacher said, "Let's start with Matthieu. He will show you how to do it. If he can do it, there is no reason why your toddlers cannot do it." The teacher seemed to know Matthieu and his daddy pretty well. I was thinking,"Perhaps he has taken the lessons for a while." Voila, everyone was eagerly watching Matthieu in action. One second, two seconds, five seconds... he did not move from the slider despite of her daddy's encouraging words. Instead, he reached out to him, did not dare to jump off. It wasn't a proud moment for the teacher, let alone the daddy. Poor Matthieu. The role model failed. Then came Nadia. She crawled up the slider and... wooossshh!!! She jumped to the waters in no time! Everyone clapped. Ever since, the teacher has picked Nadia to lead the way and Dita and I are being the proud parents. Ahahaha....