Jo Green

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By Jo Green - Thu 14th Jul 2011

 

This July is turning out to be quite a busy month. Not only does my daughter go to summer school for the whole of the month, between 9am - 1pm, but she then has swimming lessons every day between 5pm and 6pm.

Most Towns in Spain offer swimming lessons for children of varying ages. My local Town holds them in the Municipal outdoor pool for 20 Euros for the whole month - however that fee is refunded at the end of the course if you are on the Padron. I think they charge the money because places are at a premium and they want to ensure that nobody claims a space only to not bother turning up for lessons, thereby wasting a space that somebody else could have made use out of.

However, we felt that an hour in the sun at this time of day would be at bit too much for her - especially when she would have been playing in the garden for most of the afternoon - and so decided to send her to lessons at the indoor pool in the next town up the road. We had heard good things about them from a few parents who had taken their kids last year, and she would be attending with a few other kids from her school, so it seemed like the easy option.

She has always liked water, so it wasn't too much of a difficulty in persuading her to go.

For the first lesson I had to be in the water with her and it basically involved a lot of splashing and her getting used to the pool and the teacher. This rapidly progressed to swimming with various floats, jumping in and then swimming to the side, and building up her strength in preparation for being able to swim a length on her own.

One hour a day for full month for 50 Euros, not bad at all, given that they promise she will be able to swim by the end of the month.

I only hope she won't be sick of the sight of water by the end of the course.