St. Louis, MO 
You truly are amazing! You want your children to be water safe and to learn water survival skills and swimming skills that are so good for them and that are something they can enjoy from age 1 to 100! So you load your children in the car and drive them to lessons. You tote their swimsuits and towels and swim caps. You get them changed. You watch their lessons and cheer them on, encouraging each effort and celebrating each achievement. Then you change them back and load them up again. Meanwhile you have juggled schedules and dinner plans and who knows what else…
So three cheers for you!! And many thanks from all of us at British Swim School for all you do for your children, the students you have entrusted to us.
We did find some other outstanding aquatic mothers. Look at what you have in common with some of them…
Mothers are right by the side of their children whenever they need them and are the first ones to carry them before they can walk (or swim) on their own.
Just as human mothers carry their infants in their arms, a walrus mother will often carry her cub on her back as she swims. Similarly, sea otter mothers can be seen floating on their backs, cuddling their pups tight atop their stomachs to make sure they don’t drift away. Before children grow and are able to move on their own, mothers carry them, and never leave them without loving arms and helping hands along the way.
Children are a mother’s most treasured possession and she protects them at all costs!
Just look at the octopus mom. She will lay up to 200.000 eggs, and during their incubation period of up to 10 months, she guards them ferociously, even refusing to eat for the sake of keeping her children safe. Octopus mothers have even been observed eating their own tentacles, rather than leaving their offspring. The eggs hatch and float away, while the moms often die, starved or too weak to defend against predators.
Just like the octopus, mothers have an enduring drive to protect their children from harm until they’re ready and prepared to defend themselves from potential dangers.
Motherhood makes for some of the strongest women in the world.
Take a look at the mother polar bear. After mating, the male will leave the female alone to carry her cubs to term, and she is solely responsible for raising them for up to two-and-a-half years—talk about one independent role model! At the end of the day, mothers remain dedicated to loving and caring for their children, even in the most difficult circumstances.
If she has to, a mother would go to the ends of the Earth for her child.
There’s no better example of this than the Emperor penguin. Maybe you’ve heard how the papa penguin shelters the egg while the mother goes out in search of food, but do you know how far she may travel to find those provisions? Up to fifty miles. That’s right—instead of turning back or giving up on finding food for her baby, the mother will push herself to her limits to reach the goal of returning to her family to provide nutrition for her little one.
On a similar note, elephant seals put on an enormous amount of weight during a pregnancy that lasts almost a year but lose around 600 of those pounds in less than 30 days while nursing their calves. Likewise, you can bet that if it all came down to it, a mother would travel as far as she had to or even sacrifice her own wellbeing in order to make sure her children were taken care of.
Mothers are their children’s very first best friends.
Manatees showcase this perfectly with their adorable and compassionate commitment to accompanying their babies as loyal companions until they’re strong enough to go off on their own. They are vigilant guardians, swimming alongside their calves and nursing them for up to 24 months, never rushing them to be weaned until they’re ready. While kids grow up and make new friends, they should never forget the first and most dedicated best friends they have or will ever know: their mothers.
After an orca mother has given birth, she helps her young swim to the surface to take their first breath. Babies tend to stay very close to their mothers, saving energy by swimming in the mother’s slipstream. Uniquely, female orcas live with their mothers for their whole lives, travelling in matrilineal groups. As orcas can live up to 90 years, this means many generations travelling together.
And as for transportation issues…
The strawberry poison-dart frog has to deal with young who may try to eat each other. In order to prevent this from happening, the mother frog transports each baby tadpole individually on her back to a safe pool of water, which is often in the heart of a flower. She then visits each nursery pool for about 50 days to feed the tadpole.
You are all wonderful mothers of your very own aquatic offspring!! And we at British Swim School wish you a very, very Happy Mothers Day!
British Swim School St. Louis offers premium water survival and swimming lessons for infants, toddlers, children and adults, starting at just 3 months old. We proudly serve the St. Louis communities of Afton, Ballwin, Brentwood, Chesterfield, Clayton, Concord, Crestwood, Creve Coeur, Dardenne Prairie, Eureka, Fenton, High Ridge, Howell Island, Kirkwood, Ladue, Lake St. Louis, Manchester, Maplewood, Maryland Heights, New Town, Olivette, Overland, Richmond Heights, St. Charles, Orchard Farm, St. Paul, St. Peters, Sunset Hills, Town and Country, Valley Park, Webster Groves, Weldon Springs, and Wildwood. Call 314-312-1878 to enroll or find a class online.
