
About a week ago, I posted about our drive down to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. We slept decently well (considering having two small children) and woke up ready to enjoy the beach. Sadly, the the first day was overcast with only a little bit of sun, but we were still able to go to the beach and pool twice. Our schedule for the day was beach, pool, lunch, naps, beach, pool, walk, early dinner, walk on the beach, bedtime.
Little Buddy loved the water, perhaps a bit too much. The single red flag prevented him from full-out swimming, but he loved standing by the shore with Daddy and letting the waves hit his legs. There was also a purple flag due to jellyfish. Yuck!
He seems to like the salt water more and more each year. He didn’t really care much about playing in the sand, even though we brought his big plastic shovel and dump truck. He dug for a few minutes but was more interested in being a daredevil at the edge of the water.
Little Buddy’s reaction to the pool was even more interesting. Last summer, all he wanted to do at pools was sit on the stairs and splash. This time, he was eager for Daddy to take him in, and he could actually touch the bottom of the 3-foot section. Mr. Handsome took the opportunity to start teaching water safety and basic swimming skills.

I’m not a fan of flotation devices for toddlers because I think it gives them a false sense of safety. I’ve heard too many stories of kids having a blast jumping into the deep end over and over while wearing floaties and then taking them off to get a snack, forgetting that they can’t swim, and jumping in and either drowning or almost drowning. So my plan is to avoid any flotation aids until our kids are able to swim. Little Buddy is so tall that I don’t think it will be long before he is able to. Mr. Handsome plans to start teaching him in our neighbors’ pool this summer.
What are your views on teaching kids to swim?