My First Blog

Water Wings is here for you when your child is ready to leave their water wings behind and fly into competitive swimming.

I have been a “Swim Mom” for almost 5 years. My daughter started swimming two days after her eighth birthday and is about to age up for the third time. My son started swimming at the age of six. We have been to so many swim meets I have lost count. Hopefully, you can learn from our experiences and avoid some of the mistakes I have made.

Insight #1~

Swimming should be fun!

I chose this as my first insight because as a former swimmer and highly competitive person it is easy to get caught up in the moment and forget that these are kids. If swimming becomes a chore and no longer is fun, they will want to quit. Yes, they need to go to practice. Yes, as a parent, you always want them to have their best race. BUT... there will be days when they don’t want to practice. There will be slow and/or “bad” races.

As far as not wanting to go to practice, I suggest asking your child why they don’t want to practice. Do they have too much homework? Do they not feel well? Are they having a problem with the coach? Are they burning out? Obviously, if they want to compete well they need to practice but a day off here and there might be more beneficial.

The best advice I can offer pertaining to races is hugs. Hug them when they swim well. Hug them when they don’t swim well. There will be more races and nobody can swim a new best time (NBT) every swim. Not even Michael Phelps!