Do children still get swimming badges like the 5m, 10m etc that we got as children?

[crokky]

Do children still get swimming badges like the 5m, 10m etc that we got as children? DS really likes swimming (he is 3) and I wondered if you still get a 5m badge etc? I used to be really thrilled as a child to have swam far enough to get a badge. I haven't seen them on children's costumes etc in the pool so I wondered what the scheme is these days? TIA!

You can get distance badges, the school i work at gives these, but you can also get certificates for other skills such as blowing bubbles under water or entering/exiting pool safely. Mine have badges but , being a terrible mother, they arnt sewn onto anything!

The ASA do an award scheme. Early stages are sponsored by Frosties and called Ducklings then Distance, Water Skills etc . Details http://www.awards.sportcentric.com/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,5061-153333-170549-nav-list ,00.html here

lol my mum taught me to sew when I was quite young so that I could sew my own badges on!!

here

Excellent idea. When I was a guide I couldnt sew and my mother wouldnt, so i glued my badges on. All went well until they melted off whilst I sang songs around the campfire!

thanks LIZS - looks like the sysytem has got a bit more complicated!

DS does badges with strange titles based on the rubbadubba's TV series. He's now moved on to something like goldfish badges. I think his most recent one included swimming for about 5m. previous ones were for strange things like being able to identify the swimming pool amongst other things!

I think these are STA badges.

Oh yes my ds1 has been telling everyone he meets for the past month that he got his 5 metres badge.

And a berstificate

he has been having lessons but I also take him and ds2 to a fun swim session friday afternoons (they are preschool age). The lifeguard there said that you can teach them to swim yourself and as long as there is a qualified swim instructor to witness it, the child can get their badges in a public session.

So I've given notice on the £6 per half hour swim lessons!

(am confident to teach him myself as I was once a club swimmer for many years).

As for sewing it on the swimsuit, I sewed the badge on a towell that he now uses just for swimming.

It is confusing isn't it? It depends what your swimming school does, I guess.

Mine started out with water skills, then they moved on to doing their levels 1 through 12, which develops all the major strokes and emphasises how to teach them to do them properly. This took around 3 years to complete.

They did distance swims and distance training in between, which is the 5m etc awards, and they stopped doing distance badges after a mile.

The competitive start award is about competitive swimming and teaches them how to dive in at the start of races and I think they did some turns etc as well.

They also did bronze, silver and gold challenges which test a mixture of skills and involve a timed distance swim.

I'm so glad they don't do swimming any more!

My DSs have lots of badges, but it doesn't seem to be the done thing to have them sewed onto a costume anymore

I'm considering sewing DS1s onto his Cub camp blanket, but suspect that might not be the done thing either.

No, you sew them onto their swimming towels of course! They outgrow swimming costumes.

My children have a number of swimming badghes and rather than sew them onto anything, I thought that it may be nice to put them into some kind of display book for badges and certificates, so they can take them along to school for the infamous "show and tell" sessions, without fear of losing them. Any ideas where I could get something like this?