Today was Aidan's first official swim class. Although, we went to mommy and baby swim classes when he was an infant more of a playtime to get acclimated to water, this was his first actual class where he had to get in the water without a parent for a true swim lesson. Albeit, it was far from a swim lesson and more of a test of will, as you'll soon find if you read along. Today's class was the "starfish" class for nervous beginners which I would have to say was a pretty mild description of Aidan today. The instructors tried everything to coax Aidan into the water, using toys and talk therapy. He wasn't having any part of it so they finally did what they called a "hand off". One staff member pool side picked him up and handed him to the instructor in the water as Aidan kicked screamed and flailed. Aidan had refused to let me take his t-shirt off insisting he wasn't getting in, to his surprise he went in with t-shirt and all. He cried and protested for the entire 30 minutes clinging on to the instructor as I watched from the observation deck (as they requested). The instructor bobbed around the pool the entire time, up down, up down, side to side, while Aidan just clung on like a koala bear. The nice part was that there were other parents in the deck who were reassuring me that either their child or other children they'd seen were just like that. Session ended, I went down to the poolside to pick him up, what I expected to here was "nice try, don't bring him back" actually turned out to be "see you next week!"....and they even gave him a gold ribbon that said "outstanding" on our way out....I was amazed!
Hang in there. At the same age Lincoln was the screamer being handed off just like Aidan. Each time it got easier, the fit shorter, and soon he was loving it. We did his classes at a popular El Sobrante school, where they had about 6 classes going on at the same time and all the parents in a fenced off area near the pool. So I'd get to drag him into the pool area in full view of 20 or 30 people, pry him off of me and then walk away as he'd cry, and yell. I was kind of relieved the next session to see a kid that was far worse than Lincoln every was.
ReplyDeletewhat time is your class on Thursdays? Parker's is at 3pm for the rest of the summer.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ebba, yeah I was a bit mortified by the scene.
ReplyDeleteRachel- Aidan's is at 3pm too! Yay!