Swimming

This past summer we put Stratton in swimming lessons and he has really enjoyed himself . When we lived at the apartment we were swimming just about everyday and then combined with his swimming lessons he was getting a lot of practice and confidence. Stratton is a very cautious child and a year ago when it came to the water he would be sitting on the steps with a life jacket on and a floating ring around his waist. I thought swimming lessons would be just the thing for him to get a little more comfortable around the pool.

Stratton just graduated last week from a gold fish to a jelly fish and I couldn't be more proud. It seems like a simple thing but back floating can be quite tricky . The requirements for him to move up to the next class took some time and a lot of practice to conquer. The Gold Fish Class was an introduction to the basic skills necessary for swimming. They worked on submersion, rollover breathing, back floats and independence in the water.



Stratton did great but struggled a couple of times with the transition from one teacher to the next. He began swimming lessons in March with a girl named Jesse whom he absolutely loved. ASU started back in session and Jessie his teacher had to go back to school so he then got switched to a new teacher named Will. Will is fantastic , big tough guy that teaches three year old's how to swim . I watched him week after week with Stratton and he had so much patience and really took the time with each child. Stratton however, wasn't quite sure about the transition from pretty Jessie to tough Will . I know Stratton is just a little boy but I think that even little boys have a hard time taking instructions from bigger boys. He is little but his male ego still does exist in a big way. Needless to say it took some time for him to acclimate and find that common ground and bond with Will.

There was one week that I watched him struggling to trust his new teacher and he just didn't want to cooperate. The swim school has a large glass wall in between the pool and the waiting area so parents can watch their children swim. I was sitting there watching him struggle and he was looking at me with tears in his eyes trying not to cry. I gave him a thumbs up and he broke down and just starred at me crying . I hadn't seen him look so sad in a long time and he had a look on his face begging me to come save him. At that moment I honestly didn't know what to do and all of the parenting books and everything that I had learned were racing through my head . Do I rush in and save him from the trouble and hard task of back floating or do I sit here and let him work through it on his own. Well , I had made up my mind and as hard as it was I just sat there and gave him another thumbs up . I knew he wanted me but I thought there are going to be so many hard things to endure and work through in life and I won't be there to save him every time. We had made a commitment to swimming lessons and we weren't going to quit when it got tough. It broke my heart to sit there but it was a decision that I felt like I had to stick to. I guess as a Mom I hadn't had a moment like this yet where I simply did not know what to do . My heart wanted to rush in but my head thought maybe in a small way this would be a lesson that Stratton and I both had to learn. Stratton on the way home of course told me that he didn't like his new teacher and he wanted me to cancel his swimming lessons. Trust me it would be much easier and cheaper to go ahead and cancel the lessons but I know that wasn't an option. This was something that we were going to do and we were going to come back week after week and try again.

That is just what we did and Stratton finally gained that trust and love for Will and is now a back floating machine , he was so proud when he did it for the first time all by himself . He received his ribbon and was acknowledged in front of all the other kids and instructors and then came running up to me saying , " I told you Mom , I knew I could do it "! As I watched him through the glass when he finally did back float by himself , swim with his head under water and then back float again with a huge smile on his face I started to cry and was such a proud Mama. Stratton did so great and is now a Jelly Fish . I hope that he maybe learned a small lesson to never give up even when it does get hard and sometimes you want to quit.