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Operation Swim

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (17)· June 30th, 2011

Monday, in an effort to take advantage of a near-perfect summer day, I took all three kids to a tiny beach at a nearby pond. It had a little splash park, the swimming area was small and roped off, and there was lifeguard supervision. My big kids can’t really swim on their own, but I brought their lifejackets. Usually, with those on, they are quite content to paddle around. Except, unfortunately, we arrived only to find a sign saying no flotation devices were allowed. Super.

They ran back and forth on the beach, from the one or two small pieces of playground equipment to the tame sprinklers of the splash park (which they mostly just stood near, not in), and I could easily keep an eye on them while sitting on a blanket with Ellie. We were very clear about not going into the pond without me, and following that rule was not a problem. A couple of times, I put Ellie into the Ergo and walked into the water so the kids could splash around.

Well, after wading around for a while, they got a little cocky with how deep they’d walk. Daniel tripped and fell backwards. I wasn’t far away, and pulled him up within what was probably 2 or 3 seconds. The lifeguard was half a stride behind me. Everyone was fine. He sobbed for the next 10 minutes, and since it was almost time for lunch anyways, we packed up and left. I stayed calm, reassured him as best I could. Kids slip, it happens. He was fine.

Except the time it took to make those two or three strides to my son was plenty of time to see the terrified look in his eyes as he frantically paddled under water and couldn’t get his feet under him. He was so scared, and I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t stuck with me. “I tried to put my feet down, but then I was under the water!”, he wailed. “I forgot to hum and I got water in my nose!”, he cried pitifully. (I have tried to use a trick my swim instructor told me about to help people hold their breath and not get water in their noses: hum while you’re under water. Clearly, he remembers, but not in the heat of the moment.)

We are in desperate need of real swim lessons. I am totally fed up with the group classes at our local YMCA. The instructors are inconsistent week-to-week, and the group format means the teachers are mostly herding wet cats and don’t really have the wherewithal to try to really nudge a kid into new skills. I tried signing up for semi-private lessons there, but never got a call back after submitting a form in DECEMBER. I would spend most of the summer taking them to open swim, but in addition to having ZERO experience teaching anyone about swimming, I have the small issue of an infant to take care of. Not enough hands to take two preschoolers and a baby to the pool by myself.

I’m at something of a loss, yet feel like we really need to make some progress this summer. I don’t need them to be able to swim a full lap of perfect breaststroke. I just want them a little bit more capable in the water. At this point, they’re happy as can be if they’ve got flotation, but have a long way to go towards horizontal body position in the water. They hate even getting their faces splashed, much less actual submerging. When we visit my mom’s lake house in July, my aunt has promised to help us out, but I think a cold, muddy lake will be a hard sell. But this is not, in my mind, an optional skill. Daniel had his scare at the pond. Rebecca had a terrifying incident in Hawaii when she forgot to put her life jacket back on and got right into the pool. A fully-clothed, soaked, and shaking M greeted me at the patio doors with a crying Rebecca in his arms. We’ve had our two chances. There are too many awful stories every summer. And yes, I know that even strong swimmers can still drown. But let’s stack the deck in our favor, shall we?

So, here we are. Best I can come up with is giving them goggles and having them practice in the tub, and maybe hitting open swim at the Y on the weekend when someone else can take care of Ellie. But even then, I’m not entirely sure where or how to start.

Any tips out there for getting not-super-adventurous kids over the hurdle of submerging and independent swimming? I know it isn’t a now-or-never situation, but my nervous heart would sure like to work on this one.

Comments (17)

Categories : Learning/Classes, Preschoolers

Tags : swimming

Monday Mash-up

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (8)· May 3rd, 2010

I’ve got a billion half-thoughts swirling around in my head. Most of them not quite worth an entire blog post. So here’s a little gumbo for your Monday (lucky you!).

We started a new swim class with the kids on Saturday. It’s meant to get them gradually used to swimming without mom or dad in the water, so each week we’ll (attempt to) get out a few minutes earlier and leave them with the teacher. First class, we stayed in the whole time, and the kids absolutely loved it. Rebecca bragged for the rest of the day about swimming “all by myself!” And she did, a little, too! Here’s to hoping that bodes well.

Saturday evening, we went to a cookout at a friend’s house. And reminded each other that we seriously need to do this all summer long. We all have 3-ish-year-olds who know each other well, so the yards are appropriately-equipped and everyone knows each other. What could be easier than throwing some hot dogs on the grill for the kids and letting them get absolutely filthy? And then everyone leaves in time for preschooler bedtime! Absolutely brilliant.

It didn’t hurt, of course, that they have an excavator in their yard at the moment. There are few things more exciting to the 3-year-old set. Though attempting to get seven kids in the same picture was probably quite the entertaining sight for the neighbors.

Operation: Purge is starting slowly but well. Six big bags of clothes were dropped at Goodwill, and more are to follow. Many boxes of books are loaded into my car for donation. And we’ve done our best to involve the kids. Rebecca got it in her head that the clothes and books are going to “a baby,” and she likes adding more things to the box. She did a great job helping me sort through her old clothes and books and was quite generous in what she elected to give away.

The focus of the purge, at the moment, is the room we usually refer to as “the changing room.” There wasn’t enough space in the kids’ nursery for two cribs plus dressers and things, so they sleep in one room and their clothing lives in another (we have four bedrooms, but none of them are very big). The plan is to make the changing room into Daniel’s room. But because it was a room in which no one actually lived, a metric butt-load of crap has landed in there. So we have to get rid of it to make space for Daniel to move in. Exciting stuff, long way to go.

And to cap off this bucket of random-y randomness, some photos. The first is from a few days ago. It was rainy and I was taking the dog out into the yard. When I turned around to come back in, this was the sight that greeted me at the front door:

My dear Daniel, love him though I do, may not have a stellar athletic career in his future. Hand-eye coordination is just not his forte. Don’t even get me started on trying to ride his tricycle and the fact that he has absolutely no concept of steering.

Comments (8)

Categories : Learning/Classes, Toddlers

Tags : cleaning, swimming

Open Swim

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (1)· March 29th, 2009

Now that’s what I’m talking about.

We took the kids to open swim today (finally), after leaving our ill-fated swim class a few weeks ago. It was a little crowded but well-managed by the lifeguards. And it went even better than I thought it would.

I had Daniel, and while they were not letting any additional people into the zero entry pool when we arrived, we could hang out in a section of the big pool while we waited our turn. Daniel enjoyed sitting on the side and kicking his feet, and went in with me pretty easily. He would sometimes request to get out, but more because something else caught his attention, not because he was unhappy in the pool.

Rebecca was with M, and was quite reluctant to get in. The two of them sat on a bench on the deck for a while and watched people swim. She was doing OK, but it was loud and she seemed a little anxious. Eventually she agreed to come see me and Daniel, but wasn’t so keen when M took her in. Instead, he took over on Daniel duty, and Rebecca agreed to sit on my lap on the side of the pool. Then, she agreed to kick her feet. Eventually, she went in, clutching a noodle while holding on to M.

After 20 minutes or so, some people left the zero entry (and bathtub temperature!) pool and it was our turn to come off of the waiting list (I told you, the lifeguards were on top of things! They kept the number of people in each pool to a manageable level.). Rebecca wasn’t sure, but M sat in the water with her and chatted. Daniel loved that he could splash his feet in the shallow water, and then spent the next half hour walking up and down the slope of the pool, holding onto the rail. Except, eventually he realized that the rail ran out and he wanted to go further! Would you believe he walked in all the way to his chin?? And even better, two or three times he slipped and went face first into the water. Obviously either M or I were right next to him and immediately picked him up and he was not in danger. But each time, he’d (naturally) get scared and cry and we’d think “uh oh, guess that’s the end of swimming.” And within about 15 seconds, he’d be asking to get back down and go “walkin” again. Way to get back on the horse, Daniel!

Rebecca surprised me just as much as Daniel did. In Florida, she really never warmed up to the pool, even though we spent a lot of time there. And while she was hesitant today, even she got into walking up and down the incline. There she was, my little peanut, holding onto a noodle or two like she was walking a tightrope. She, too, would walk until the water was nearly to her chin, and then reluctantly turn back around. She really only got upset when some girls were holding onto the side of the pool and practicing their kicks, and she got splashed in the face. She’s really not a fan of water in her face (every night in the tub, for the last year or so, she screams about it). But even with the splashing, I had to really convince her that it was time to go home.

This is what I was looking for in a pool experience. Take it easy, let them do whatever they’re comfortable with. Encourage them to come in, encourage them to stay in even when they protest a bit. Push, but don’t push too far, too fast. Open swim is clearly the way to go. The only down side is that, unlike a class, it’s hard to see it as a scheduled obligation, so it’s easy for it to fall by the wayside on a weekend afternoon. But hopefully we’ll make it a habit from here on out.

Comments (1)

Categories : Toddlers

Tags : swimming

What I was going to say…

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (1)· March 9th, 2009

I was going to write a post today. Really, I was. But you all know how it goes. The day gets way from you.

Anyways, I wanted to thank everyone so much for their feedback on my swimming post. I’ll be stopping by the Y tomorrow to fill out the withdrawal form, and we’ll just stick with open family swim for now. I feel really good about that decision, and it was great to have you guys out there, validating me.

In the meantime, don’t forget about Thursday Theater! This week’s optional theme is: SONG. Interpret however you want. But be prepared to put your speakers on mute, as my entry may very well involve a few verses of “Wheels on the Bus.” Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Comments (1)

Categories : Blogging, Your turn!

Tags : swimming

Sink or Swim

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (20)· March 8th, 2009

This morning was the start of our new swim class at a nearby YMCA. M has been wanting to do this for ages with the kids, and we finally got around to signing up. Getting to the 9AM class after losing an hour last night was a bit of a crazed rush, but we made it in plenty of time.

We had a few minutes before class, so we could stand and look through the glass wall into the pool. The kids seemed interested, and it’s not as though this was the first time they’d seen or been in a pool. When we went in, Rebecca was not thrilled by the man swimming past her while she walked along the pool deck, but they did fine. Having an adult for each kid is always a nice perk, of course.

There were only three of us in the class, so yes, my family made up 2/3 of the group. The other girl was about 15-16 months old, so at least they were of a similar age range. The class is technically for 6-to-18 month olds, and our kids are 19 months, but I figure better to err on the younger side for their first class. Especially since the next age group is 19-36 months, which is an awfully large range.

Anyways, we sang a quick hello song, and the teacher encouraged us to put a little floatie on the kids (even though we wouldn’t exactly be letting go of them) and kick back and forth across the pool. The kids weren’t really into it, but we did it anyways. Then, singing a little song and going in a circle (kids not at all pleased), she suggested we blow in their faces and try to dunk them. I didn’t think that was so wise, but she strongly encouraged it, so M and I played along. As predicted, there was much screaming by our pair. The screaming didn’t stop until we left the pool.

Here’s where I had a problem. Aside from the fact that I’m not convinced the “blow in their face” technique works that well on 19-month-olds, after Daniel was hysterical for a solid 5 minutes, I stepped off to the side to try and remove him from the situation and calm him down. I was immediately instructed to come back in, that I shouldn’t “send a bad message” by taking him out, that we should basically just let them scream and continue about our business. That I didn’t want to send the message that something is wrong by taking him out for a minute. I got practically a mini-lecture at the end of class about how crying is fine, that I shouldn’t “give in” to it, etc.

You all know, I don’t have a particularly difficult time being the hard-ass, as a rule. I don’t overreact to crying, temper tantrums, etc.. I don’t have a problem pushing my kids outside of their comfort zone in the name of learning. But my whole thing about swim class is to teach my kids to enjoy and feel comfortable in the water. And while I obviously have zero training as a swim instructor, I feel like maybe the approach could have used a lot more gentle encouragement and a lot less just powering through the screams. I fear that this approach is only going to lead to my kids beginning to scream the moment we pull on the swim diapers. Especially since Daniel, for one, was really warming up to the pool in Florida, only to freak out today at the Y.

I can’t decide whether to give the class another chance or just cut our losses and try to find another one. On the one hand, this was just one session. Maybe it’ll get better. On the other hand, if this is going to breed some kind of pool phobia, I’d like to get the hell out as soon as possible.

M also points out there was a bit of an “assembly line” mentality to the teacher. She was going straight from one class into the next, no break. Didn’t learn the kids names (there were only three of us!), sang the song, kicking activity one, kicking activity two, circle, dunk, ball, goodbye song (what were those names again?), get out of the pool, start the next class. I can understand that would be a hard way to teach. But I sort of don’t care. My experience was that she was not engaged with the kids at all, not encouraging, not adapting to anyone’s needs. And that doesn’t seem worth scrambling to get out of the house early on a Sunday morning.

Moms of older kids, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one. Teacher engagement issues aside, did it work for your kids to just push through the initial protests and screams? If I knew this was going to pay off, I’d totally stick with it. But I need to know it’s likely to actually go somewhere positive, and not lead to a kid who’s afraid of the water. Or, do you think my mommy-spidey-sense is right and this is not a good approach? Any swim teachers out there want to weigh in?

And as a P.S. to this day… within about five minutes playing in the tub, we had Daniel putting half his face in the water, trying to blow bubbles, thinking it was the funniest thing he’s ever seen. This is not a kid with an inherent fear of the water.