A started swimming lessons on a Tuesday after I got a certifikid for $40. She got her new bathing suit and bravely walked to the door. Her male teacher, who knew the other little girl in her class said very loudly HI!! and splashed. A. ran screaming from the room. We did finally get her in the water but she fought the whole way. Then, every night for almost a week, she cried and asked if she had to go see Mr. Tim again. We had to decide whether it was better to fight and put her back in the water though I'm not sure if she was more scared of the water or the teacher. As a result, we decided to change her teacher to a girl and take out the male teacher factor. She went the Saturday to her new class and did great. I wasn't there, but B. said that she got right into the water and whimpered a little only when her teacher asked her to put her face in.
Week 3 (also the same day as
chips before lunch,) I took her and she started saying, "I don't want to tuck my head in" before we even got into the car. OK, whatever as long as you do what the teacher says. Apparently, that didn't cut it because my little one is hard to convince once she gets something in her head. This time, when they called her name, she started SCREAMING. Screaming like the teacher was going to hold her under the water and drown her. I took her to the dressing room where I tried everything that I could. I told her she was a brave girl, I told her she would be great, I tried the "I'm disappointed route". I tried everything until I finally decided that I wasn't giving her an out but I wasn't going to traumatically push her into the water. The resolution was to stay in the room by herself until she either got into the water or the class was over. 10 minutes later, I was about to pull my hair out because I heard her contentedly playing in the other room. I went in and told her they were climbing the ladder; this is her favorite part. That little girl walked right in and joined the lesson. I was half proud and half infuriated at the same time.
Week 4. Aunt Stacy came and A. was AWESOME!! She was so ready to go. She decided before we left that she was going to "tuck her head in" by herself sometime during the lesson. She did it the rest of the way. They moved her to level 2. We registered her the same teacher the she was finally comfortable with.
Week 5: new level. We get to class 5 minutes late because traffic was HORRIBLE. We walk in and Ms. Colbi is NOT her teacher. Really, I'm sure this teacher would be fine but again, REALLY? We just finally got comfortable enough to walk in with Ms. Colbi. A. bravely got into the water only to run screaming from the room a few minutes later when this teacher tried to force her to put her head underwater. I feel beaten down by swim lessons. A. doesn't want to go back. So here is the question, do we
A. quit and let her remember swimming as a bad experience
B. force the issue and fight our way through it until she is comfortable with this teacher. keep in mind, we are paying $90 for 6 weeks for her to get a rapport with a teacher
C. call and get Ms. colbi and reiterate how annoyed we are that the teacher was changed at the last minute, I mean, we just registered on Sat for a class with Ms. colbi
D. say suck it up and realize that I am a suburban mom that is overly worried and overly analyzing swim lessons
I'd go with a C & D combo and depending on the results of C, possibly B.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this Tuesday will go better? Maybe you should just make B in charge of taking her when possible since he's had better luck?
Oh please, I have seen you teach kids to tuck their heads in the water. Pay yourself to teach her : )
ReplyDeleteShe cna play "Cops" , get it ?? : )