swimming lessons, days 1 - 3

Before I get into the nitty gritty about swimming, check out the lady in the background of these two pictures getting after her son.

Funny huh?

I'm sure somewhere someone has a similar picture of me.

SAD, SAD, SAD.

Next time I'll think twice before I scold one of my children in public, or at least look and see if someone nearby has a camera.

(these 2 photos were taken day 3 of swimming lessons. That will be important later in my ramblings)

Be warned, if you love our family (grandmas I'm talking to you) the following story may upset you.

Day 1

The first day of swimming lessons here is always the same. They test all of the kids to see how comfortable they are with water and if they can swim at all and then they put them into groups.

Mr.Man is terrified of water. He hates having water on his face, which has made washing his face difficult for his first four years of life. He hates getting water in his ears. He has nightmares about drowning. He doesn't like to run through sprinklers. He doesn't like to take baths. Do you get the picture he doesn't, doesn't, doesn't like water (I think it's inherited - Grandma W. can sympathize I think), so when he said he wanted to take swimming lessons with the kids I was ecstatic.

I put him in the Tiny Tots swimming class knowing they wouldn't make him put his head underwater and they would just play games (Doodle was in Tiny Tots a few years ago).

After Mr.Man was put in a group I was watching the older kids doing their swimming tests in the big pool so I wasn't too close to the small pool where he was but I kept hearing his teacher yelling his name and getting after him. I thought that was odd but then I thought maybe he really wasn't listening. I will be the first to admit that he can be exasperating, stubborn, exhausting and give the phrase "Endure to the end" a whole new meaning, but he is sweet, sincere, thoughtful, and smart. He's a typical 4 year old boy. Aren't they supposed to be all of those things, the good and the bad?

I digress, moving on.

I decided his teacher was a little strict and I was going to keep a closer eye on things the next day.

Day 2

All of the little kids met at the tiny pool before separating into their groups.

The teachers threw out a bunch of toys into the water and told the kids to gather them up and then they would separate into their groups.

While they were doing this I heard Mr. Man's teacher yelling his name and telling him to put his face in the water. She kept yelling it over and over, really meanly. That really bugged me, especially because she wasn't telling any of the other kids to do that and none of them were putting their faces in the water - they were gathering up the toys.

So I started calling his teacher the swim Nazi (in my mind)

As soon as they separated into their groups she said to his group , "OK, we're going to put our faces all the way in the water."

A couple of the kids went before Mr.Man and then it was his turn. I heard him say he didn't want to, then she said, "well you're going to" and she pushed him under the water all the way!!

He came up spluttering and crying.

Then she pushed him under again!!!!!!

When he came up again he made a beeline for the side of the pool and started scrambling out of the water. (Totally scraped up the bottoms of his toes by the way.)

At this point I was halfway to him.

I heard the Nazi lady say, "If you're going to cry go to your mom then."

When I reached him he was sobbing saying he was scared and he wasn't going into the water again ever.

I walked over to the teacher and said, "My son is very afraid of water and just having him get in the water by himself without crying is a big step. I would appreciate it if you didn't make him go under the water I want this to be a chance for him to get used to being in the water and feel comfortable."

Nazi says, "Well, if he doesn't put his face in the water he'll never learn to swim."

I said, "If he's terrified of the water and doesn't feel he can trust his teacher he's never going to learn to swim either. There will be plenty of time for him to learn to swim later - he's only four - I just want this to be a positive experience for him - I'm not worried about him becoming an Olympic swimmer."

Nazi said, "Fine. He can't be in my class then if he can't handle putting his face in the water. He needs to be with the little little kids, they don't put their faces in the water."

I said, "Good. I don't want him in your class."

Then I took him over to another teacher and talked him into just watching her for a little while then he got in the water with her.

He was still crying and one of the little kids came over and said, "Why are you sad?"

M.M said, "Because I'm scared of the water and I don't know if my new teacher is mean."

Little kid, "Don't cry. I'll help you be brave and she's really nice."

Then M.M. stopped crying. (It was very sweet)

Day 3

He seemed to have forgotten all about his traumatic second day and embraced his new teacher. As you can see by the top two pictures he's enjoying the water now.

The best part was -- after his class while waiting for the older kids to finish we walked past his old teacher --- the Nazi----and he said,

"Hi teacher, I like my new teacher a lot better than you. She's nice. I think I'll learn to swim better with her."

I did a little mental victory dance and smiled after that.

The older kids...

...are doing great. Doodle keeps saying I have to get really good at this swimming stuff so I can be a scuba diver, and Banana and Duder are looking forward to jumping off the diving board tomorrow.

Only 7 more days to go!