Swimming Lessons

We finished another year at Morley's Swim School before we left for our trip to Utah. The kids did a great job and they all made great progress this year. Before Aaron started swimming lessons he wouldn't even put his face in the water. By the time he was finished at Morley's he was gliding to the wall. He was so cute every time he went in and came out of the water. He would go down with a huge grin on his face and then come up with the same grin and every time he would wipe the water out of his eyes. He was totally consistent. It was so funny to watch. He loved every second of it, I think it helped he had a cute teacher. He loved it all, except for one particular day. I forgot to put his swim suit in the car and so he had to wear his shorts. He didn't notice until a couple minutes into the lesson and then he totally lost it. He cried and cried and cried about his shorts getting wet. I felt so bad, but hey a kid's got to learn to deal with disappointment, right? It was quite the ordeal, but he got through it.

He went off of the diving board this year too! We were so proud of him. Joseph works just a couple blocks away from Morley's so he was able to stop by a few of the days.

Abby became a dolphin this year. She really improved her stroke and made great progress with her side breathing. She begged me to let her join the swim team. Maybe next year. Between the ballet production and our family trips, it was hard to commit to the team this year. We are very proud of Abby. She's very comfortable in the water and that makes things pretty fun!

Brynn did awesome again this year and I think she really needs to start swim team to move it to the next level. Her strokes are very smooth and pretty, but she needs a bigger pool to work on the endurance. She got frustrated a couple of times this year because of the butterfly stroke and diving. She told us it's hard to get her shoulders out of the water when she's doing the butterfly. She does awesome and performs the stroke a million times better than I can. Sometimes she's a little hard on herself.

Joseph commented on her diving one day, telling her to spring a little more and to let her head fall in the water first to avoid the slapping of the legs or belly. She went home and spent 30 minutes crying in her bedroom. When I finally figured out what was going on, she told me what had happened. "When Dad tells me what to do, it makes me think that he didn't think I did a good job!" She and I had a discussion about how we all have room for improvement, none of us are perfect. Joseph and I had a discussion about letting the swim instructor correct things for now. Like I said before, I think a child has to learn to deal with disappointment....but we as parents also need to make sure we put deposits into her emotional bank account and we also need to emphasize that our love for her is not based upon her performance. I think sometimes when we compliment or criticize too much, we place too much value on performance. We've been trying to help the kids recognize that how they feel about what they've done and having fun is what's most important. Anyway, they all had lots of fun. Now we've just got to get some more use out of our summer swim pass! This summer has flown by!

I love being on this side of the swimming lessons. I remember teaching swimming lesson for many years as a teen/young adult. I always watched the mom's bringing their kids to swimming lessons. I envied them. Now, it's my turn and I am loving every second of it. I love watching them, cheering them on and then wrapping them in a nice dry towel when it's all over. While it's not quite as glamorous or as easy as I imaginedit would be, this mothering gig is quite satisfying. I love it!