So for the past 2 years or so till right when we were coming over to Dubai, he has gone from being very scared of water.. all the way to being ok to be in water and being able to float and also swim by using a swim board.
But he has been staying sort of stagnant on the learning curve for the last one and a half years and as the next items on his learning chart would be to lose the board and also to jump into the pool.. but try as we might... counselling, reward system or scolding... no matter wat we did.. he just REFUSED to jump into the pool and his teacher, Mr Loke said not to force him..
It got to a point where he actually even started to request tat we stop his swimming lessons...
Anyway, before we came over to Dubai, I told him that swimming is an important curriculum here and that he would have swimming lessons and that maybe he would have strict teachers... And so while he was generally excited to go to a new place and have a new school, he was quite afraid of the lessons.. to my surprise however, when he came home, he told me that his swimming lessons were very fun:)
And then about a week later, we started getting letters from his swimming teacher to request that he goes for extra lessons to build is confidence in the water and grudgingly, we agreed.. cos the cost of it is almost double of wat we paid in sgp...
So everytime he has swimming lessons, when I pick him up from the school bus after a day in school, I would ask him how is his day in school and based on his replies, the conclusion I got was that he enjoyed the extra lessons as they were mostly playing games with the noodle floats and stuff but he said he did not like his class swimming lessons (he gets one lesson of swimming in his usual class curriculum) because his teacher forced him to learn free style...
But when I checked with his teacher during meet the parents.. his teacher said he seems to be enjoying all his swimming lessons well...
Anyway, about a week or two ago, he came and excitedly announced to me that "I can dive into the pool, mummy! I can jump in!"
"That's great! Please show us when we bring you swimming the next time..." I told him and gave him a high five and a hug.
Fast forward to about 1-2 weeks later and our friend Charlotte and Lee invited us over to their pad in Abu Dhabi... the tipping point for Ace was tat they had a heated pool in the building..:)Anyway, when it was time to visit the pool, we found out that they were closing earlier that day as it was a holiday eve... so Ace only had like 20 min left to swim...
The moment he reached there, without a moment to lose, he changed into his pants and dived right into the pool... no board, no nothing and he started kicking merrily away! Both myself and max were so pleasantly surprised!
Finally and suddenly, we begin to feel tat the extra swimming lessons were worth it.. I really dunno how they did it but they manage to help Ace overcome his fear of the water and dive right in just like tat?! It's fantastic!!!I am so proud of my son!!!!
Check out max's surprised, happy face:)I went gaga taking pics and our friends who were with us must be thinking I am like some mad woman to be so happy over something like tat.. wahahahha...
And here is proof tat Ace dares to JUMP and dive into the pool!
All in all, I think the whole experience of going to an international school in Dubai has made Ace a much more courageous and confident kid:) I hope he will still remember the lessons he has learnt here when he does go back to Singapore for good;)
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