Sixteen month old Chelsea put the skills she learnt at swimming lessons to avoid a potentially dangerous situation. I received this email for one very happy mum.

“Hi. I have had my daughter in Shapland’s Warner for around 7 months. She has just turned 16 months. Today I had my kids at the local pool in the toddler pool. A boy pushed Chelsea off one of the islands’ in the pool. She fell backwards into the pool, and at such a young age she was able to turn herself around and stand up. I’ve always been a strong believer in it’s never too young to start kids swimming. Today it was great to see such skills put into action. Very proud mum.”

I just love these stories. Chelsea was able to roll off her back on to her face and then knew from her swimming lessons the skills needed to get her feet back under her body and stand up.

Most toddlers don’t have this skill which makes shallow water just as dangerous as deep water. Like I said I love these stories and I know that the franchisees, teachers and managers get so much job satisfaction from stories such as this for this is proof that the skills they teach your child can make them safer in the water for the rest of their lives.

Chris Shapland.