Since my son has been 16 weeks old, and armed with his first set of inoculations, he has been used to the swimming pool.
One of his granddads is a very keen swimmer, a one-time county water polo player and police diver no less, and was itching to take him to the pool.
Swimming is one of the things I've always done with him too; we were regularly at a swim play session So for the first four years of his life my son was in the water once, and sometimes twice a week.
His granddad and I concluded that while he was making great progress with us, that we simply had too much fun playing about to think about formally teaching him to swim. So at five, the age at which our local authority will take children, he started having weekly lessons.
Now in his third term of lessons I am delighted to reveal that he has been awarded his 25 metres badge. Which for someone only 116 cm long themselves is no mean feat.
The pool looks so long from that height. And I wasn't the only one appreciating his efforts; he got more than a mild applause when he reached the shallow end. I was so proud.
It made a swimming party last week very pleasurable, rather than a concern, as it so obviously was for some other parents.
I am a very lucky daddy.
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