Imagine your little one, once hesitant at the water’s edge, transforming into a confident explorer in the pool! Swimming lessons with toddlers open them up to a world of fun, help build their confidence, and equip them with essential water safety skills. This guide offers our top tips for starting swimming lessons with toddlers and …
Australia’s sparkling beaches, inviting pools, and endless sunshine scream fun! But for parents, that joy can be tinged with worry. Water safety for kids in pools is essential because this recreational activity is a large part of the Aussie way of life. Why is Water Safety For Kids Essential? The statistics around water-related injuries and …
A Parent’s Guide to Water Safety for Kids – Shapland Swim Schools Read More »
In recent years, I’ve become increasingly alarmed by how mobile phones, tablets, and laptops are quietly contributing to child drownings and near-drowning incidents. The growing dependence on these devices in everyday life is leading to distracted parenting, especially around water, where every second counts. The problem – water safety for kids – is getting worse. …
Watch Your Kids: Parents Focus on Phones Over Water Safety Read More »
At this time of year, I – from Shapland Swim School – often receive phone calls from concerned parents saying their child seems to have forgotten how to swim. Here’s an example I hear regularly: “My daughter has forgotten how to swim. We went for a swim in our pool, and she was scared of …
An interesting email came across my desk from one of our franchisees where a parent went to a swim school that specialized in children who have a phobia of water.
Now what constitutes a phobia? Is your child scared of the water, will not tolerate over their head in the shower, washing your child’s hair is a terrible experience, does not like getting their face wet, screams when you take them into a pool or will not even stand up in water knee deep to name a few.
Brenden whilst learning to swim at Shaplands, lost a leg to chickenpox & lost his confidence to be in the water. His teacher John Dommett reintroduced him to water and swimming.
As a swimming teacher who taught his first lesson at the age on nine (9), some sixty (60) years ago it is the golden moments, as I call them, that never ceases to bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart. Golden moments are the ones where a child/adult suddenly transitions from one level of skill acquisition to the next.
“I am not happy with how my child is progressing because at her last swim school she was swimming across the pool” is a statement I have heard lots of times over the many decades I have been teaching swimming and running swim schools. I also knew the statement “she was swimming across the pool” to be untrue as I was teaching that pupil and knew that the pupil could not float on top of the water by himself or herself without being frightened.
It is official. I have just received notification from the Channel Swimmers and Pilots Federation that I was the oldest swimmer from any nation to complete a solo crossing of the English Channel last Channel Swimming Season. Glen and Julie Langford who were part of my support team and who live in England will be attending to annual dinner to accept the award.
Chris Shapland recently joined Karen Ghidella from KidsToDo.com.au for a LIVE online video chat. We recorded the event and posted it right here for you to watch on demand.