As the demands of full-time jobs and rising costs weigh heavily on families, a heartwarming trend is emerging, with more grandparents taking on a proactive role in nurturing their grandchildren's growth and development.
Today, grandparents are stepping up as caring mentors, shouldering responsibilities to ensure their grandchildren receive enriching experiences that may have seemed unattainable due to financial constraints.
Taking care of childcare
According to a new YouGov poll for Age UK, 40% of the nation's grandparents over the age of 50, have provided regular childcare for their grandchildren. Many of today’s 14 million grandparents in the UK are now also putting their hands up for duties such as family trips to the seaside, visits to the cinema and even the school run.
Something else that’s changing is that grandparents, keen to make a positive difference in the lives of their grandchildren, are gifting their loved ones with presents that will last a lifetime. We are seeing this more and more at Swimtime with more grandparents than ever gifting their grandchildren with swimming lessons.
The gift that keeps on giving
Enabling the grandchildren to learn to swim, and giving them the confidence that goes with it, is a present that will serve them well for the rest of their lives. Who knows, it might even end up saving their life or someone else’s in an emergency.
As well as being great fun for the children and an opportunity to meet new friends at the pool, this is a gift idea that can work well for the grandparents too.
For those lucky enough to live on the doorstep, purchasing swimming lessons can provide the opportunity to build even stronger bonds with the grandchildren if you’re also able to take them along to the pool every week. After watching the action in the water, you then have the chance to hear all about the best bits on the way home.
Half of those grandparents surveyed said that doing things with the grandkids kept them physically and mentally active, while 38% admitted that it gave them a new sense of purpose.
If you like the idea of gifting your grandchild a course of swimming lessons, you’ll want to be sure you’re booking them at the best place possible – and that’s something we can help you with.
Introducing Swimtime
Swimtime is the largest independent swim school in the UK. Established over 20 years ago and now operating at hundreds of different venues, Swimtime is a 5-star BFA-accredited franchise organisation. To give you an idea of how big we are, we teach over 20,000 people, mostly children, to swim every week.
Much of our popularity is down to the outstanding quality of our teachers. All Swimtime teachers are hand-picked, verified and qualified to ensure your grandchild will receive a safe, fun and rewarding experience.
Our award-winning Learn to Swim programme has been designed by leading industry experts to take your children on an engaging learning journey from the very first time they jump into the pool (if they’re bold enough!) and start learning the key skill of floating safely. Children as young as four can let Ethan Electric Eel guide them through a programme that gives them their first experience of independence in the water. Come along too and you’ll be able to see that these lessons, unlike some they do at school, are fantastic fun too!
Book now
The other great thing about organising swimming lessons with Swimtime is that our award-winning online platform makes booking so fast and easy. All you have to do is put in a postcode and our advanced system will immediately find the nearest pool and list the times of appropriate lessons. To get everything sorted right now, just follow this link.
