Swimming Lessons

We signed all three kids up for swimming lessons this summer.  It was so nice to know that they would all be able to participate.  We did the evening session again so JJ would be able to come be there too. 

 This is Nolan's first time taking swimming lessons.  We talked about it during the day and he was so excited.  I explained to him that he would sit on the side of the pool during lessons until it was his turn to work with the teacher.  He seemed to understand when we talked about it but during lessons this was challenging for him.  He really wanted to swim all the time and kept going over to the steps and trying to get in.  He was a little resistant to putting his head back in the water and putting his face in.  Hopefully with time and some practice at our pool he will make good progress this summer.

 I put Garrett in the intermediate class again.  He does well swimming and after watching him swim at our pool I decided he needed to move up.  He is a better swimmer then he thinks he is.  I talked with the director and she agreed we needed to move him up.  I could see on his face he was unsure about the move.  He struggled at first keeping up with what everyone else was doing.  It was really frustrating for him.  Just like everyone it is hard to learn something new and hard to be uncomfortable.  At one point he went over to the side and got out crying.  JJ went over and gave him a little pep talk along with his teacher.  He needed to know that we were keeping him in this class.  The point of swimming was to learn new skills and he wouldn't be able to do that in the other class.  We told him it was okay to take breaks as they swam the length of the pool and he didn't have to do everything perfect, just try his hardest.  He improved and did better even by the end of class.  He is in the same class as Lucy.  This is her second year in this class and most likely her last year of swimming lessons.  She is a strong swimmer and her teachers asked us if we had considered putting her in swim team.  We laughed because we have talked about it.  It is a big time commitment and we aren't sure we are ready for that.  Maybe next year we will give it some more thought.  We are looking forward to watching the kids learn some great things this summer.