Swim Lessons Done Wrong

I have vivid memories of my first swim lesson experience when I was 4 years old.  It haunts me to this day, I still get chills thinking about it.  I recall crying and telling my mom how much I didn’t want to keep doing the lessons, but she felt it was important for me to learn water safety since we had a pool in our backyard.  I can’t really argue with her on that point and she was just doing what she felt was right at the time.  She put her trust in the swim instructor and hoped that she would teach me how to swim.

The swim lessons took place at the YMCA in Sacramento in 1977, my teachers name was Moe and she was really mean.  I always was in fear of her and basically did what she said out of fear, not because I loved to swim.  Many times I felt out of control, like I was going to drown because she wouldn’t let us hold onto the side of the pool deck for very long.  She would only come and help us stay afloat when we made large splashes in the water and to top it off, at the end of each lesson she made us jump off the high dive.  Honestly, I am not sure how high it really was but in my mind (at 4 years old) it was pretty darn high.

Growing up I had a pool in my backyard and I did enjoy swimming but always had a fear of being in the deep end, not being able to touch the bottom and keep my head above water, it is still a fear of mine today and my biggest fear is drowning.

Lily Swim Lessons April 2006

Now, it is my turn to teach Lily how to swim and she is already fearful of the pool, she seems to think that she will not be able to float in the water and sink to the bottom.  When she was a baby we took her to swim lessons and she was ok with it until the teacher started to teach us how to ‘dunk’ her in the water.  Really? That is just mean…and now I regret even doing that to her as a baby.  They do teach you the proper way to prepare your child prior to dunking them, but I still think it is mean.   We then moved on to swim lessons when she was 2 years old and those went well, I avoided the dunking lessons and we just agreed to let her get her blow bubbles in the water instead of going underwater.

Now we have a pool in the area that we have gone to and she has been small enough to hang out in the toddler pool, but this year she is too big.  She will go with us in the big pool but she hangs on for dear life when we are in there playing.  I feel bad for her, I know that feeling all too well about having fears in the swimming pool.  We have signed her up for semi-private swim lessons this year, hoping that the teacher will somehow make a break through with her and help her to enjoy time in the pool, the big kid pool.  If that doesn’t work then I think we are going to have to shell out some bucks for private swim lessons.  I know that it is going to take patience on my part as well, but I think I’ve got this one covered because I can totally understand her fears and help her work through them….it’s going to be an interesting summer.  I will keep you posted and let you know how she does.

Here are some resources that I found about teaching your child to swim.  If you have any tips, please share them below in the comments section.

Parents Magazine – Teach Your Child To Swim

Sacramento Parent – How To Raise Water Confident Kids