Lil Swimmer

The one thing that E latched onto before our trip here were pictures of preschoolers at swimming class. It has since become clear that he thought he was going to swimming school, where that is all he would do all day. And it's even clearer that is his idea of heaven.

In fact, swimming is a part of the national standards for preschool, so many schools offer it. E goes to a class weekly for 45 minutes.

Several weeks ago, we visited a balneario, and it was apparent to D and I what a difference this weekly class was making. He could really swim without floaties for the first time.

Last week, D visited E's swimming school, and I went today. It was amazing.

That's E pushing the blue foam disk.

The school is dedicated to swimming, and it has a completely separate pool just for teaching children. They start with tiny babies and teach skills carefully and sequentially.

The pool is about 2 feet deep in the center, with edges that are only 3-6 inches under water, and a deeper part that is about 4 feet. The teacher-student ratio is supposed to be one to five, or but sometimes is one to three. They have tons of toys and equipment - noodles, rings, slides - to aid with learning.

E's teacher patiently tried to help him do a back float over and over again, all while putting up with him splashing water in her face.

I watched another teacher take a crying baby who didn't even want to shower and give her enough confidence and enjoyment that she climbed on a foam platform and slid into water over her head, smiling the whole time.

Is this kind of swimming school a Mexican or is it something they have in big cities in the US? Well, based on our experience, they should have them everywhere.