Took ds(11) swimming after school yesterday, not to a lesson like he does every Friday, but to a different pool that is a lot closer to my house (rather than his dad's house, because he started lessons there before we split up).
The pool is warmer, cleaner, a bit smaller and less busy. It's within walking distance. I'm going again tonight once he's gone to his dad's, but I'm not expecting to have half as much as fun.
Ds is an absolutely fantastic swimming buddy. I'm trying to loose weight and get fitter, and he is aware of this.
He's so competent in the water now, can swim faster than me now but is so incredibly encouraging, with lots of "come on mum you can do it!", and "do you need a hand?", and "let's just see how fast we can do one more length!".
He's competitive in the best kind of way (we were both showing off our diving skills) and we had an absolute ball. He's quite delighted to have 'absolutely lapped' me, I was delighted with how supportive he was, and how stressful the whole thing wasn't. It was just good vibes and genuinely fun exercise the whole time. I can't wait to take him again!