Fwimming Lessons

Meg had her first Swimming Lesson last week -- or 'fwimming wesson' as she calls it. Gotta love that 3 yr old 'accent' of hers.

I was all excited for her . . . we'd talked it up, as we tend to do for new experiences. Meg is the kind of kid that does very, very well in pretty much any situation if she knows what to expect. And what is expected of her. So, with a new endeavor like swim lessons, I had already begun preparing her for what she would be doing in the pool. without mom. for days before the lesson. I really want this kid to learn to swim on her own so that she won't cling to me or the side . . . so she can have as much fun in the pool as I did as a kid.

Funny, it wasn't the 'without mom' part of the whole thing that seemed to bother her. She just flat out, no joke, did NOT want to participate.

I've signed Meg up to learn the very basics of swimming from a neighborhood college girl who teaches lessons out of our neighborhood pool. Her lessons are one-on-one, take place in our pool, and last 30 minutes. Nothing too high stress, nothing fancy. And nothing terrible expensive. (Thank goodness for that last one.) I would love for Meg to be able to hold her head up in the water and not fear swimming without a vest by the summer's end. But -- quite honestly -- I really have very low expectations of this whole thing. If it's just one step closer to actual swimming, that will work for me.

Ms. Alli had Meg in the pool at 4pm last Tuesday, and off they went. They sat on the steps, talked (they had actually already met in the days prior to the lesson), blew bubbles. Meg put on her goggles and put her face in the water. As a mom watching from the out-of-sight sidelines, I was stoked.

Then, it all came to a screaching halt. Meg just was not going to do anything else. She kept telling Alli, "I don't want to," and I could see her eyes wandering for something else to do. Meg said she was "afraid of the water" -- which was nothing more than a dramatic plea for ME to get her out of her lesson. That kid is about as afraid of water as Janice Dickenson is of plastic surgery. She freakin' LOVES it.

The lesson, which was halted before about 4:15pm, continued for a little while more. . . but then even poor Alli, the instructor, gave up hope after about 10 more minutes. I gave Meg my 'stink eye' as I dried her off, all the while questioning her refusal to participate. I paid Alli for her time, and we scheduled another lesson. I'm chalking this one up to a $15.00 'get to know you' session, and I'm still holding out hopes that this week will go better.

As you can imagine . . . we've been talking up her lesson even MORE this week. We spent the weekend swimming with our buddies in Florida, and we totally played the 'look how big THEY are to swim by themselves!' game. Peer pressure -- I'll take it when it's helpful. If that doesn't work, maybe we'll just throw her in and see if she can swim. Lots of kids rise to the occassion when they are forced to do something new, don't they?

Okay, so maybe we won't do that. At a public pool, that might be cause for some really nasty looks and possibly a call to DFACS. I guess we'll just take it one lesson at a time and hope for the best.

(At least Kate had fun on the sidelines, as seen on the right!)