Cycling and Swimming - a must learn skill

Over the years, my son has rode different size/type of bicycle.  First he had a four wheels bike that passed down from his cousin.  After the old wheels worn out, Papa bought a BMX bicycle (still with the four wheels) which he learned to ride on two wheels without much effort or help from us.  And I have blogged it here.  Last year, Daddy splurged on a 24 inch mountain bike (Trek superfly).  My boy was, of course, overjoyed to receive it and has since cycled to Pasir Ris park and Changi village with it with Papa.

 

I remembered we had a conversation with his Singapore 'pak pak' about what skills must we equip our boys during their childhood stage. Cycling came up top in the list as well as swimming.  And we did instil the interest easily on cycling so much that we would make it as a family outing to the park.  My son enjoys and loves it till today.

 



Year 2010 - He was 2 years++



Year 2011 : He was 3 years++

Year 2015 : He is 7 years++

  

Rode to Pasir Ris Park

Swimming, on the other hand, was not his favourite sport.  My boy started his swimming lessons with Total Swimming at United World College, the East campus, 5 years ago when he was 3 years old.  And he picked up free style, breast stroke, back stroke and butterfly progressively.  It was pretty fun in the beginning,  But this year,  he was less keen and has asked me many times to stop his swimming lesson.  I have persisted a few weeks with lots of encouragement and explanation on the benefits of swimming as well as sending cues to the lady incharge of Total Swimming that my boy have lost the interest.

 

Mommy is reluctant to give up swimming because of a bad experience we had at the wavepool in Darwin, Australia in 2013.  He was 5 years old then.  The wavepool was awesome.  All of us were thrilled and had so much fun riding on the surge of waves one after another on a float.  A terrible thing however happened! A huge wave swept my boy away from us.  Vividly, I remembered that my boy was floating above the water like a rubber toy.  He did not struggle or scream.  My heart was racing.  It was a hair raising moment encountered with near drowning.  I panicked because he seemed drifted much further and faster no matter how hard I swam.  We were thankful that the lifeguard there was alert and saved him.  Where was Daddy?  He was far far away from us.  Honestly, both my hubby and myself were not good at swimming.  Therefore, this incident was the compelling reason that my son must learn to swim well although he did not like it that much.  Hence, I decided to switch to another swimming coach and a change of environment might help to revive his enthusiasm. 

 

 

2011

 

2016