Babies learn to swim in Dubai
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00:00We're teaching the babies actual life skills, hopefully that one day they might need to
00:14use them should they fall into a swimming pool.
00:15We live in Dubai, obviously where a lot of people have got access to pools.
00:20We're trying to teach babies the skills to actually learn to swim at a very young age.
00:25A lot of our babies, my babies in fact, start from around four months, and if they go to
00:29the course, pretty much by the age of two they can actually swim, so obviously the benefits
00:34of that are just huge.
00:36It's not only just for the babies, a lot of parents are unsure how to be in the water
00:41with their own children, so I find it's not just the children that progress, but obviously
00:45the parents.
00:46They learn how to handle their babies and become much more relaxed just by doing a wash
00:51baby session.
00:52We spoke to that mummy, she was a very nervous mummy in the beginning, even out of the pool
00:57and in life, and I think if you can learn to bond with your baby in the water, it's
01:01quite a relaxed environment.
01:03There's a lot of babies that are stressed out in the water, and I actually sometimes
01:07say, okay, come back to me when you're actually having fun with your baby.
01:12Go away, and I give them exercises doing the bath and the swimming pool.
01:17Actually some parents don't even think about buying toys and having colour and stimulation
01:22around.
01:23The first song that we do is always the opening song.
01:25It's always the same song, we sing, if you're happy and you know it, the babies actually
01:29know then that that is the start of the class.
01:32Then we do a few exercises, and if some of the babies get a little bit cranky, we then
01:37bring them back together as well.
01:38But you'll notice that we did a song where we're doing the kicking exercises.
01:43It's also babies thinking about kicking to a song, so we'll sing Kick This Away, and
01:48then you'll find with the parents helping in the beginning, then we'll sing the song
01:52again, and the parents don't need to do it for the baby.
01:55There's a few different things, obviously it keeps it more pleasurable, but also there
02:00are specific functions, you see, we do Humpty Dumpty on the wall, that's an exercise to
02:06bring them in, and we count one, two, three, so the babies are coming in, they're going
02:11under the water and up.
02:13We start with the bubbles, and then you're going to start with the babies, so if we put
02:17them under the water, you always count one, two, three, and then you'll take them under.
02:21We do about five key skills, one of the first ones you'll get them to hold on to the side,
02:26obviously that's a key life-saving skill, so holding on, monkey, monkey around the wall,
02:32bubbles, and then one, two, three, we'll get them under.
02:34Pretty much on the third lesson, they will all be going under the water.
02:38This is her first term, so she started the beginning of September.
02:41She's much happier.
02:42I brought her here because I wanted her to be safe if she fell into the pool unsupervised.
02:47Already in the baby pool, she could walk without a float.
02:51If she falls down, she doesn't panic, she doesn't swallow a lot of water, she doesn't
02:55get upset.
02:56I can pick her back up, and she continues as normal, without any fuss.
03:00We get to do an activity together, which is really lovely, we get to bond over her learning
03:05something.
03:06When we're in the pool back at home, I have exercises I can do with her so we can continue
03:12to learn at home.
03:13We get to enjoy the water together.
03:15If you put her under water, she can push the water to get to you, wouldn't really call
03:20it swimming yet.
03:21She can climb out of the pool, and knows how to jump back into the pool, put her body weight
03:26forward to fall in, which she didn't do before.
03:28It makes me feel very happy, it makes me feel like she's on the way now, from a very early
03:34age to being a good swimmer.
03:36My son was very happy, he was acting with the other babies, he was nice, he started
03:42to clap his hands to the water, and the teacher got him into the water, he was like, he doesn't
03:52know what to do, but I think he will develop all these things.