Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Swim Lessons

This year I decided to enroll Ellie in swim lessons. A lady here in town teaches them out of her personal pool (what a great way to pay for a pool!). It's actually the son that teaches the little kids. It is only 2 weeks- 8 lessons total. I've never put Ellie in anything "extra" before, so it was interesting to see the different kids and Moms that were there. There's the sweet, quiet mom. Then there's the athletic mom with her son in goggles and two little kids in goggles watching from the sidelines. The mom that gets there late every day. And of course the mom that lets her kid do whatever she wants and is walked all over. The first week was quite interesting. Poor Ellie just didn't understand what she was supposed to do. And no matter how much I encouraged her to dunk her head or put her whole face in the water to blow those bubbles, she wouldn't do it. I'm not the kind of mom that has to have her kid be #1 at everything. Every child has their own strengths and moves at different speeds. But I'll admit I was convinced swimming was not for Ellie as the other four kids in her class were doing better. Well, this week I'm feeling better about it. She is still not totally getting it, but she's at least enjoying herself now and enjoys dunking. And the other kids were enrolled last year in the same class and are just barely ahead of her. There is hope :-)

2 comments:

erin sheely said...

good for you! swimming can take time for lots of kids. my friend's kid was in swimming for like a year before he would put his whole head in but now he loves swimming. she'll be great! and at least she's having fun.

jmelgan said...

She's at a good age to learn. I used to teach beginner swimming for the YWCA. Most of the kids were four and five. It was so much harder teaching the older kids that were seven and eight who never learned to swim.

Just like so many other things... Every kid is different. Some pick it up right away and some it takes longer. Seems to me once they get with the program and feel more comfortable, they pick things up quickly.