1. You learn a whole new language
If your child has just started swimming lessons, they may be talking in a new “swimming vocabulary” that you will not understand. Don’t worry, talk to your kids, learn new things from them and your child will surely appreciate it. You will quickly learn that touching with two hands rather than raising your head in the goal is very important. You will know that “dolphin strike” and “butterfly strike” are not biological terms. A few more examples, for non-swimmers DQ, refers to a fast-food chain inspired by dairy products, but for swimmers, it means a lost race. The “DFL” is not a runaway football league, it refers to swimming that may have been technically correct, but put you in last place in the results.
2. If you close your eyes for just a few moments you miss your kid’s race
Only swim parents can understand the frustration of going to a day-long swim meet and missing the only 30 seconds your swimmer actually competed. 30 seconds sounds like a very short period, but while your child has their own race, they can last like an eternity, and on the day of the competition they are more important than the remaining 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds of the day.
3. Getting up super early in the AM never gets easier
As adults, we learn to deal with many responsibilities, but getting up super early is not one of the things you ever get used to. It’s okay to get up at 6 am, but at 4:30 am, is it even possible? Get up so early just to fulfill your taxi duty to your swimmer? It’s not easy, you never get used to it, but when your child is happy, it pays off!
4. Your grocery bills explode
Although swimming competitions last only a few minutes, we classify swimming as an endurance sport. A typical swimming week mostly involves training in the pool, but also on dry land and in the gym.
Such strenuous workouts are a great physical challenge and require the intake of a large number of kcal per day. In order to settle such a high-calorie deficit and meet the requirements of strenuous training, you need a carefully designed diet plan that must ensure sufficient energy and adequate hydration.
Taking into account that children are more demanding about nutrition in their developmental stage, higher bills should not surprise you. Nutrition is a very important part of your children’s training and success.
5. Swimming is not so simple as it looks
Swimming can look like a simple sport, you put on a bathing suit, put on a cap, jump into the pool, swim to the other side as fast as you can and that’s it!
But, in order to swim as fast as you can, there are hours and hours of training, exercises, giving up lying in front of the TV and late parties with friends from school. Not to mention developing technique and technical skills. All that, for half a minute of shining in the pool!
Does it sound any simpler now?
6. You get into the “swimming is a real sport” argument with non-swimmer parents
It will irritate you if a Non-parent Swimmer raises an eyebrow and questions if “swimming is a real sport at all.” If only they could witness the everyday hardship, they would understand.
First of all, swimming is an Olympic sport and swimmers are real athletes. For example, did you know that Michael Phelps can box a 300+ pound squat for 20 reps at once or that Nathan Adrian relaxed presses a 160 lb dumbbell? It’s not everything about football, and don’t even try to get in
arguing with someone who asks such silly questions.
7. Easy to buy present for child
Whether it’s a birthday or Christmas gift, there are countless gadgets on the market that will delight your swimmers. We let your imagination run wild and check out some of the ideas in our older article!
8. You play so many roles (cheerleader, driver, supporter, nutrition consultant, etc.)
As we mentioned earlier, it is not always easy to be a parent of a swimmer. You are the driver, you have to be available early in the morning, but sometimes late in the evening, it doesn’t matter if it’s raining or snowing, your transport has to offer the best service! At home you have to pay attention to diet, lots of fruits, vegetables, protein, cooking, but look at it from the positive side, you will eat healthier and therefore feel better.
Remember you have to be a cheerleader too. Your support in everyday life is extremely important to your children, but especially in competitions! Feel free to be loud, make a banner, dance, sing, and don’t forget to encourage your child even when the result you hoped for is missing. 🙂
9. Your whole world is wet
It seems like you still have a baby in your house, only instead of lots of dirty overalls, diapers, and soft toys, you have a house flooded with endless piles of wet towels and swimming equipment. Going to the beach is not as challenging for you as most other parents because you are completely used to wet hair, damp car seats, and a full towel washing machine!
10. The sport wouldn’t exist without you
You may not get a medal for all the effort you put into your child, maybe no one will give you applause when you arrive in time for training or competition, but your child’s satisfaction will surely be your great happiness. Without you, nothing would be possible, you are the one who finances everything, from training to equipment, food, everything! But more important than the money you invest is just the time you give. It has no price, and it is you who guide the child to swimming, bring him to training, go to competitions with him. Without you, nothing would be possible!
Being a parent of a swimmer is not always easy, but be sure your child spends their time in a place where they will strengthen both physically and mentally. You will have a child ready for challenges, he will learn to deal with victories but also defeats. If you support your child, your relationship will be even better and you may have a damp, chlorine-scented, but a house filled with happiness!
Image courtesy of Pixabay.
Don’t miss the opportunity to join the club and to learn and develop swimming skills.
