Hope Floats

The kids have swimming lessons for the next two weeks.  I'm looking forward to an hour a day in the shade of the pool-side gazebo with a book, leaving the work to the professionals.

In the past, swimming lessons have been met with dread.  My son, especially, was terribly afraid of the water.  He would put his nose in the water for the merest second then flip his head up, shaking the water off his face in a panic.  His fears were the subject of many of my prayers.

The first year of lessons as a four year old, he took lessons at the YMCA, and he didn't even get in the water.  The high school age teacher couldn't convince him to get him.  I went shopping around for more experienced instruction.

I found out about lessons at the high school pool in a neighboring town.  The main instructor, also the high school swim coach, had a reputation for being tough.  The cost was also considerably less than the YMCA.  The next year I signed him up there.

I remember him at five sitting by the side of the pool, feet dangling in the water, shivering sitting next to kids who were still in diapers.  I saw him look for me in the stands through his goggles, the headstrap making both ears bend outward at an unnatural angle.  He with his little-boy arms and little-boy chest had never looked so vulnerable.

Fortunately, two years of lessons under the oversight of the coach and his drill-sergeant tactics helped get my son mostly past his fears.  He passed to the third level, which means he can swim.  As much as the lessons, both of my kids have also benefitted from unstructured time in the water.  We mostly rely on the kindness of friends, relatives and neighbors who either own or have access to pools, but we've also sought out opportunities to swim in creeks, rivers and lakes.  We aren't picky.

This year we've gone with a third, more local, kindler and gentler option for lessons.  The instructors with this new outfit are young but seem to know what they're doing.   The past two years it's been one drill sergeant to a dozen kids.  As you can see from the picture above, the ratio here is much better.

It's good to have the swimming demons mostly vanquished.  It makes my reading time in the shade much more enjoyable.