Welcome to May and Water Safety Month! Be sure to follow us on social media and share our water safety tips with your children. Summer will be here before we know it!
We continue to watch the recommendations set by the states and the CDC and when it is prudent to do so, will be excited to re-open our doors and swim with you again! When this happens, we want to ensure that all students are as comfortable as possible coming back. Be sure to talk with them about British Swim School and remind them about all the fun times they had with their Instructor. If you have any photos or videos of their swim lessons, show them and talk to them about their experience.
We want them to be excited to come back so we can quickly resume where we left off a few months ago!
Empty pools may be pretty, but they’re not fun!
For our little ones…
Turn the tables: No matter what level they were in when our lives were put on hold, our focus should ALWAYS be on creating a positive relationship with the water. Children respond to their parents’ reactions, so it can be fun and beneficial to allow your child to pour water on YOUR head and see how you respond. Make sure to smile, laugh, blink the water out of your eyes and always practice taking a big breath beforehand!
Remember: 1-2-3-GASP!
Then, it’s their turn! Remind them to take a breath beforehand and mimic what they have just watched you do!
…for our older students
Show us what you’ve got! Send us your best Freestyle and Backstroke videos! We want to see how you’ve been practicing at home in or out of the water. Remember to focus on practicing your breathing and proper arm and leg placement.
If you want, use the hashtag #BSSStrokeChallenge and watch the other videos sent in from across North America! We’d love to see the funniest place you can find to practice your stroke…maybe it’s on a bunkbed, under your kitchen table, or even in the middle of your backyard!
Remember to tell us in your video what is happening (“kick, kick, kick, breathe!”)
Quick Homework Tip: Kids can practice “freestyle arms” by lying horizontally on the couch with one arm/shoulder dangling. They should reach forward (above their head), down to the ground, back to their leg, then “make a rainbow,” ensuring they’re getting their arm “out of the water” – meaning, above the horizontal plane of the couch.
Click the video below for a quick demonstration on how to practice at home!
…and just for fun…
Easy Color Match Game – Need an easy activity to pull together for your little one? Here’s an easy one you can set up in mere minutes. Find a few sheets of construction paper – or colored towels or any solid colored item – and then go around your house finding toys or small objects of the same color. Demonstrate to your child the concept of matching the items with the paper and set them to work! Older kids will enjoy finding items to match for their younger siblings, too.
Show some compassion – With the majority of nursing homes and hospitals on a “no visitor” policy, many residents are feeling very isolated right now. Have your child write a letter or draw a picture, then choose one of the locations on this list, provided by The Today Show, to brighten someone’s day!
We’d love to hear how else you’re practicing your swim skills at home, or simply how you’ve been keeping busy! Send us a short video via Facebook – link below – so we can share how everyone is doing!
We can’t wait to see everyone back at the pool!
