Swimfin

Some of you may know that Alfie’s been terrified of swimming pools after our terrible experience with baby swimming when he was tiny. Well, this weekend we made massive progress as he not only braved a pool, but LOVED it, thanks to a couple of enthusiastic cousins, belly-flopping and dive-bombing daddy and uncle and a Swimfin, £21.99, which we’d been sent to try out. It’s a floatation device for children from toddler years onwards that straps around the body and sits on the back, so isn’t as restrictive as armbands. When children start to learn to swim, it will be completely submerged in the water then, as they gradually improve, you can see more and more of the fin sticking out of the water until you reach full Jaws effect when they’re fairly proficient swimmers. It’s suitable for practising all strokes as it leaves your arms free, and there are even larger straps available in case big kids want to give it a go (the inventor is over six foot and 14 stone and it kept him afloat!) Although initially one of us was always holding Alfie, it really gave him extra confidence and eventually I was able to just pull a float he was holding – huge progress for us. I can see it being a great help as his love of swimming and confidence in the pool grows.