Fun today is peace of mind tomorrow
HER love for children and, more importantly, working with children, drew Tania Pieterse to open an infant swim school, Stay-A-Float, in 2010.
However, it was not until the mother of two got a rude awakening that she started researching infant swimming.
“My friend’s child was 12 months old – the same age as my son Christian – when she fell into the pool and drowned. I took a lesson from that and enrolled Christian for basic infant swimming at Annamarie Swim School.
“She was a doll and also took me under her wing. She taught me the skills to teach infant swimming and helped me open my own school.”
Pieterse started off with 10 children and now has more than 100 aged between four months and 13 years.
“Safety skills are the primary reason people enrol their babies for swimming lessons. While they are young, they are not afraid to put their faces in the water and when you start them out before they walk, it becomes a natural instinct for them to kick and adapt to water because of being in the womb.”
While teaching, she also sings and tell stories to hold their attention and make it fun.
“It not only helps functions and muscles in the baby but – with ailments like asthma – it improves lung capacity.”
Pieterse, who also teaches water safety, said: “It is important for children to know what to do if they fall into a pool. They must know how to immediately turn onto their backs and float until an adult arrives.”
She hopes education authorities make it compulsory for parents to send their children to swim schools to ensure they are water safe.