Swimming Begins with a Bubble a personalized book with your child as the hero

Arthur loved the pool before even getting wet. There was the warm, echoing air, the turquoise water and the cheerful plop of a floating toy. Before the first lesson, Arthur chose teal goggles from the teacher's low basket. Arthur could walk along the shallow end with the swimming teacher and splash a splendid splash. But whenever water came near their nose, their chin shot upwards. Under the water was somewhere Arthur did not want to go.

Across the teaching pool, June's group was practising for the little swimming gala. They were called the Dolphins. June waved. Arthur waved back with one hand and held the rail tightly with the other. Being a Dolphin meant being ready for the group's swimming skills, including putting your face in. Arthur wanted to join June. Arthur also wanted a completely dry nose. Both wishes felt enormous.

Teacher Alex came alongside in the waist-deep water. “You don't have to do everything today. What feels possible?” Arthur considered the question. Not a whole face. Not even half a face. “My lips, perhaps.” Alex nodded. “That's a beginning.” A lifeguard watched from the poolside, and Arthur's parent waited on the benches. Nobody was going to hurry Arthur under.

Alex showed a gentle breath out across the surface. Arthur tried, making a little hollow in the water. Next came lips just under. Brrrr! A string of bubbles hurried away. Arthur laughed and swallowed a splash, then stood comfortably to rest. “Take a normal breath with your mouth clear,” Alex said. “Then let the air out gently into the water.” No giant breath. No contest to stay under.

On another lesson day, Arthur lowered their clear goggles over their eyes. First the lips, then the nose, then the goggles touched the water. Arthur breathed out, stood up and found Alex still beside them. The world had not disappeared. It had turned blue and wobbly for a moment. June asked what it looked like. “Like looking through a moving jelly,” Arthur replied. June giggled.

There were other ways to learn what water could do. Alex placed a foam noodle beneath Arthur's upper back and supported the shoulders as Arthur leaned back. Ears in, tummy up, arms and legs wide. A starfish! Arthur stared at the ceiling's soft patches of light. Their forehead slowly uncreased. Alex explained that the noodle was a learning aid; it never took the place of a grown-up watching.

Then Arthur held a kickboard out in front. Alex walked alongside while Arthur made small flutter kicks from the hips, with loose ankles and feet near the surface. Huge splashes had looked impressive, but smaller kicks kept Arthur moving more smoothly. A floating yellow ring drifted past. Arthur almost reached it before remembering to keep looking down towards the water rather than crane their neck.

One afternoon, Arthur stopped blowing out while their nose was underwater. Water prickled inside it. Arthur stood up at once, blinking hard. “I hate this bit.” Alex stayed close while Arthur caught their breath. Nothing about the sting felt like being a Dolphin. Arthur pushed the board away and asked to get out. With Alex's help, they used the steps, then sat wrapped in a towel.

Alex sat nearby without bringing the board. “That was uncomfortable. We can finish for today.” Arthur watched June collect a toy with the teacher. June had once been frightened of floating backwards. Arthur remembered that. “Could I try the bubbles again? Just the bubbles.” It was Arthur's idea. The width of a pool was too much to think about. One little breath out was something Arthur could choose.

Back beside Alex at the shallow steps, Arthur crouched, put lips and nose in and breathed out gently. Then stood. Bubbles, breath, rest. Over the following lessons, Arthur joined those pieces to a short front paddle: little arm pulls, steady kicks, breathing out with the face in and lifting the mouth clear for a breath. At first Alex supported Arthur. Later, after checking Arthur was ready, Alex stayed beside them without touching. Between turns, Arthur enjoyed walking a floating yellow ring back to Alex on an open palm.

The gala was a friendly celebration, with short turns and no race clock. The Dolphins' badge was the club's own award for the skills they had practised. Before Arthur's turn, Alex checked the clear goggles, explained the short, five-metre width and reminded Arthur that stopping or asking for support was always allowed. The water was shallow enough for Arthur to stand. Alex would walk alongside, within reach.

Arthur slipped in by the steps and waited at the wall. June gave a little wave. The other wall looked far away. Arthur did not try to become fearless. Instead, Arthur thought of something smaller: the next bubbles. A gentle push, a paddle and a kick. Breathe out. Mouth clear, breathe in. Alex moved alongside, hands ready but not holding. The far wall came closer, one ordinary breath at a time.

Arthur's fingers touched the cream edge. The whole width! No noodle, no board, nobody carrying them. Arthur stood up with a surprised, delighted grin. June cheered from the waiting place. Afterwards, on the dry poolside, Alex offered the dolphin badge. “I saw you ask for help, choose your next step and keep learning. That took courage. Your speed wasn't the important part.”

Arthur's parent opened a towel and Arthur stepped into it, still smiling. The badge had a little blue dolphin stitched in the middle. Next lesson, Arthur would join June's Dolphins. There would be new things to learn, with Alex there to help. Walking towards the changing-room doorway together, Arthur looked back. “Can we come again? With you here, and the teacher.” Arthur still loved the pool. Now there was a little more of it to love.