We’re Nuts about Swimming with Forest Feast!

AD – In my opinion, swimming is an essential skill. Whether you’re in the pool or not – it’s a skill that can save your life. It’s as simple as that! Over the next lot of weeks, we’re collaborating with Forest Feast for their #NutsaboutSwimming campaign. 

Swimming isn’t just a lifesaving skill, it’s also a way to have fun, stay healthy and you never know, you may enjoy it enough to make a career out of it. My own history of swimming is a good one. As a teenager, I used to swim three miles a week at my local pool and that evolved into lots of bodyboarding in the Irish sea over my school summer holidays. So I’m confident when I say that I’m a strong swimmer. I’m certainly not as fit as I used to be, but I’m good in the water. 

This is the same skill I want for my children. We don’t go swimming as often as I’d like, but over the years their water confidence has been growing – some more than others. Forest feast, in conjunction with the #NutsaboutSwimming campaign, have very kindly gifted my three younger children swimming lessons for six weeks.

Forest Feasts are trying to encourage Irish families to be nuts about swimming! This is just the sort of campaign we needed to get involved in because I can see this not only igniting my children’s love of swimming but us enjoying it as a family, too. 

Stats show, from the Swimming Teachers association that a third of children in the UK cannot swim. While almost three-quarters of Parents worry that their children aren’t confident swimmers – something I can relate too! I thought those were eye-opening statistics. Wouldn’t you agree?

Getting involved in this campaign will help my children not only learn to swim but be more confident in the water. So, I thought it would be good to document their skills before their lessons, compared to after the six weeks. 

Water confidence

Ellie, my eldest girl used to just sink like a brick. I don’t know if her skeletal system was made of lead, but sinking came very naturally to her. Thankfully, this lessened as she took swimming lessons with school and watching her on her first swimming lesson with Forest Feast both shocked and impressed me. 

She is a good and strong swimmer. Just like her Mum! And I felt so proud watching her in the pool. After that first lesson, her swimming instructor, Olivia gave me a few points she’d like to work on with her. Mainly, she’d like to focus on her stamina and her distance.

Throughout the first lesson, Ellie front stroked one length and back stroked a second. It was so lovely to see her so impressed with herself {and rightly so!}. I even think her water confidence went up a level too!

Jacob, my youngest son loves to go swimming but he’s just not confident enough in the water. He can be quite hard on himself a lot of the time and thinks he just isn’t good at something – when he needs to realise that ‘practice makes perfect’. So his lack of water confidence is 100% on me. I say that because I should have made the time to take them swimming more. 

He, like Ellie, had some swimming lessons last year with the school that really paid off. But after his first swimming lesson recently – which he did really, really well in. It was apparent that his lack of belief {in himself} and confidence in his ability to swim was strong.

Olivia was so pleased with him though but noted that, just like Ellie, she wanted to work on his distance and stamina. As well as trying to increase his water confidence and hopefully that blossoming his own confidence in himself, too. 

Learning to swim

Now, little Miss Annabelle – what can I say other than I shed a tear or three up in the gallery and let me tell you why. Annabelle cannot swim. She has the gumption and driving force of a Greek army, but she cannot swim. 

Olivia was amazing with her. Annabelle had a one on one lesson with Olivia due to her age {Ellie & Jacob have a joint lesson} and Annabelle was listening to her every instruction. From the gallery, I was just watching and one minute there was leg kicking, then Annabelle is falling face first into the water. Being high fived for her good job, then doing it again – clearly living her best life! 

Next was attempting to swim no more than a few metres to the edge of the baby pool. With zero swimming aids. There were a few attempts, naturally! But she only went and bloody did it! First swimming lesson, 15mins in and BOOM! I couldn’t hold back the tears or the victory punch in the air! There was also thumbs up from her as she yelled: “I did it, Mama!” – which made more tears flow! 

So, needless to say – for all three of the kids, their first lesson went swimmingly! Excuse the pun! So much so, Annabelle has been counting down the nights of sleep until her next swimming lesson {which she has been doing since 5mins after her first lesson ended!}. 

Competition time

To encourage families to get into the pool, Forest Feast have teamed up with Roe Park Resort to offer one family to win a fun-filled stay at the 4-star resort in Limavady.

The competition is live over on the Forest Feast Facebook page and it free to enter! This competition ends at midnight on June 16th 2019. 

Forest Feast very kindly sent us out a lovely hamper and are kindly gifting another Forest Feast hamper to one of my lucky readers! This is open to Ireland & UK followers only and one entry per person.

To enter, just leave me a comment on what you {or your children} love most about swimming or if learning to swim is still on your ‘to-do’ list. This competition will run until midnight on June 16th 2019. 

Disclosure: My kids were gifted swimming lessons in return for my participation in this collaboration. All thoughts, photos and opinions are my own