Swim Lessons

As a mom, I am very pro-swimming. I think every child should be taught how to swim, and then told that water isn't safe. Which order? I'm not really sure.

I was very grateful that a girlfriend of mine went to the vast trouble of finding the cheapest way to give her daughter, (A) who is a month older than Zoë, swimming lessons. Crazily enough, it was cheapest to split private lessons! So, we asked another friend who has a daughter (L) that is five months younger than Zoë if she were interested and we got together these three little girls- who also happen to be good friends.

When L's mom told her that she was considering swim lessons, L bothered her nearly daily about when they were going to start. A didn't want to go until she heard that Zoë and L were going to be there. And Zoë's reaction?

"Mom, I don't want to go" and "Well, it's too late, I guess we can't go today" and ultimately, "Mom, I'm really nervous. I don't want to have swim lessons." This is coming from the kid that at the age of 2 was jumping into the deep end and swimming about 5 feet toward us!

Well, the day arrived. The teacher was impressed with how well the girls got along together, and she was encouraged by their abilities. Zoë left and was proud of herself that she was the best at jumping into the pool. "I was i-larious!" she exclaimed as we left the pool. I thought the other two girls were "i-larious" with how they avoided jumping- they'd drop one leg in at a time, or slip from the edge; just about anything to avoid making a splashing jump into the water.

Zoë, A and L after their first swimming lesson.

The next lesson, all three girls had goggles. Both of Zoë's friends put them on and had no problem wearing them. It took a lot of encouragement, a lot of adjustments, and not a few threats to get Zoë to wear her goggles. I wanted her to do something, so while holding Miranda in my lap at the edge of the pool, and watching Megan running over to the deep end to dangle her legs and run back, I had Zoë start to blow bubbles in the water, then put her face in the water and count to 2, to 5, etc. Then I had her put her face in the water to find the rocks. By the end of an hour, she was holding her breath 10 seconds- long enough to pick up 7 or 8 rocks from off the steps. She even, while holding my hand, picked up a rock from the bottom of the shallow end of the pool. The next lesson, she gained more confidence in "diving". However, she still was almost panic-stricken when it came to... dah-dun-dun, THE DEEP END.

Friday last week the teacher was talking to me about it at the beginning of the lesson. "I don't know how much to push her" she said. I replied "Push her hard!"

Zoë put up the biggest stink about taking her training wheels off. Near panic, tears, crying, clinging, loud protests that she didn't want to do it lasted until she was on her own- about 2 weeks with four 30-minute sessions. However, once she got going, and especially after she learned how to stop and start without falling over, I can't keep her off her bike! (I'll have to post some videos of her).

I know I have patience. I know I have some empathy, but I also get exasperated when I know my child can do something and she won't. I guess that's where I become rather hard-nosed and stubborn, and maybe seem cruel. Or, maybe I just know my child enough to know when she needs to be pushed out of her comfort zone. My sister in law also expressed this dilemma with swim competitions and her son- who is similar in age to Zoë. At any rate, I guess pushing was the right thing and at the right time on Friday.

I was so focused during the Friday lesson on helping A and L jump into the water (A hates getting her face wet and both girls are still doing the "hop" or "slip" into the water). I didn't realize that the teacher had Zoë in the deep end swimming with the noodle until after she came back to me! She even jumped into the deep end onto the noodle! The best confidence booster for her was that she was able to go from holding my hand, to me holding her long braid, to no holding at all while she would swim to the bottom of the shallow end and pick up the diving stick. Even better, on her own, she started "swimming" short stretches in the shallow end! YEA!!! All Zoë talks about now is how she gets to be the teacher's helper and show her friends how to put their faces in the water and "swim".

Now, I just have to get Megan and Miranda swimming. Megan has a healthy concern for the water. Miranda wants to dive head-first into it!