Preface

It occurred to me one hot spring day that the children the four- to five-year-olds at the nursery school would enjoy cooling off in our family back-yard pool. They certainly did, and because many of them were receptive to instruction, and there was no pool available to them (they were too young for Red Cross lessons at the high school), and because I had watched my own children in their swimming lessons, I was inspired to teach very small children swimming. Many of the techniques used in the book to help children overcome their reluctance about, or fear of, the water are equally effective in teaching small children of a nursery school. The songs and games are the same songs and games the children enjoyed at school; the experience with swings and balancing boards, tricycles and sand piles, develops knowledge and confidence both physical and psychological in some of the same ways that swimming does.

From the very first, I was encouraged by the advice and the very practical help I received from Frank Blair. Certain basic principles and the plan for putting these principles into practice were developed by Frank after a wide and diversified experience as a competitive swimmer and as a teacher of swimming. He was a certified aquatic director for both the YMCA and the Red Cross in San Francisco for a number of years; he left this work to start his own swimming school. What he impressed upon me is the importance of a step-by-step method of learning about the water, and the exercise of the utmost patience in executing this method. As I proceeded, right up through the preparation of this manuscript, his ideas and help continued to be invaluable.

The photographs for the book were taken by Bill Foote. Unbelievably devoted to what for him is an avocation, his concern for exactness and perfection produced some amazing results. Since what we wanted to photograph in the water presented a variety of problems, extraordinary ingenuity was called for. For several shots Bill had to climb an oak tree and hang over the pool, holding on with one hand while he worked
the camera with the other.

The children, Barbara Hort, Bonnie Boone, Denise Durand, Barbara Durand, Paul Callaghan and Elizabeth Kauffman, were extremely co-operative in going through the paces on a rather chilly day. You will see by their faces and their strong, graceful bodies what good children and what real water bugs they are.

Joe and Addie Axelrod checked the material lesson by lesson for ease and clarity in reading. Their consistent encouragement kept the book moving in the direction of completion. Since Joe learned to swim in our pool at age thirty-five with this exact lesson plan, and Addie likes water in a bathtub only, they made an invaluable combination. If Addie, a nonswimmer, but possessor of a sharp inner eye, could visualize and feel what I was talking about, I felt that I had conveyed my idea.