Swim Lessons

One of my friends at work (whose son, Jayden, Sophie loves - they used to go to the same baby sitter) came to my classroom to ask me if I was going to sign Sophie up for swim lessons at one of the local high schools. I hadn't heard about the lessons, so she filled me in on the details - every day for an hour for 2 weeks. I decided to let Sophie decide. All it took was saying that Jayden was going to take lessons to get her to agree.

The first lesson was awful! Our whole family went to see the lesson, which was mistake number one. That is during Josie's normal nap time so she was tired and just wanted to get down and crawl around. Sophie was doing fine in the water at first. She was bobbing up-and-down like they instructed her to do and she was also kicking her legs. While she was bobbing up-and-down she must have gone down too far and she got water in the face. She hates getting her face wet so course that freaked her out and she wanted to get out of the pool as soon as possible. She gets out and dries off and when I try to get her to go back and she refuses. She was crying and Josie was crying because she was tired. (We were that family.) I wouldn't let Sophie completely give up though. I made her watch what was going on from the edge of the pool. She lasted a total of 20 minutes on this first day. Joe had to take her on the second day since I had a meeting. I had Josie with me so he only had to focus Sophie. Sophie went in the pool, but didn't stay in long. She refused to listen from the side of the pool and mostly wanted to play around the bleachers. I took her on the third day. She refused to go in to the pool. I was able to get her to go into the pool after about 15 minutes through threats and bribery. (I threatened to throw away all of her leggings or give them to Josie and I bribed her by saying she could chew gum for the first time.) She got in with a pair of swimmies because she said she was scared and I was able to keep her in the pool for about 40 minutes. Threats and bribery work, though it doesn't make me Mother of the Year, I know. She was so excited to get gum though. She looked so proud of herself and happily chewed it for 20 minutes. Joe took her swim the fourth night and she completely refused to get into the pool. He gave up trying after 30 minutes and said he didn't want to take her anymore. Apparently she was that bad. My friend from work told me she felt bad for him. Eek! I took her on the fifth day of lessons. Again I used bribery and threats, the same one as before, and they worked. She stayed in for about 40 minutes and even jumped into the arms of the instructor, which was something that she had been refusing to do. I was very very proud of her and she was proud of herself, which is the most important thing. The next week I took her and she did really well. She swam with the boards and did most of what the instructor asked. She didn't want to go under at all but on Wednesday a new swim instructor, a girl this time, convinced her to try it. She held onto the instructor, took a deep breath and she and the instructor went under the water and then came right back up. Sophie did it twice and was proud of herself. I was too! I almost cried.

My mom had to take her on Wednesday to class because I was at a field trip. Sophie swam and when under but wasn't feeling well and actually ended up puking in her towel.  I kept her home the next day from swim because she still didn't seem like she was feeling well. On the last day she went and stayed in the pool for most the time. She still wasn't feeling the best and was kind of whiny. I had to do a lot of convincing to get her to jump into the instructors arms. She didn't want to go under but at least blew bubbles in the water while doggy paddling with the instructor helping her. We went ahead and left about 20 minutes early. When we got home she went straight to bed and ended up sleeping for six hours. She was exhausted!

Feeling comfortable enough to turn around and kick. 

I am really proud of the progress that Sophie made during her some lessons. She went from being afraid to put her face underwater to actually going under. She has more confidence with doggy paddling and floating. She seems excited about getting in the water. She still has a lot of work to do before her she is actually swimming on her own, but she is at least interested in it now. We will probably do swim lessons here again in the future, though maybe not until the winter or next spring. I guess we will see how she feels about swimming this summer. If she is loving it and wants to learn how to do it on her own then I will sign her up for lessons again sooner rather than later. I am just excited that she seems to like the water now.

Bubble gum is the best bribe ever!

Waiting to jump in.