“Go, Everette, go!” I quietly cheered from the bench as my oldest daughter swam the length of the pool for the first time unassisted. Her swim instructor told me later, “I wasn’t planning on her doing that, but she didn’t seem tired, so I let her keep going.”
This swim lesson was a big deal because we had been working up to this for months. We had started one-on-one lessons in July. Every Wednesday evening, you could find us at a YMCA close to our house. For months, my daughter worked on level 1 (water acclimation) and level 2 (water movement). Now we were seeing all of this hard work pay off as she continued to learn as a level 3 student, which is all about water stamina.
How we got here was through a lot of trial and error. When we started swimming lessons at a national chain, I tried to prepare her. I knew the pool would be loud because many instructors were teaching at the same time, and I also knew that it would be a 4-to-1 ratio. I even took her to watch a friend go through the lessons at this same place, and we talked about them.
I’d like to say that it worked, but these swim lessons did not go swimmingly. My daughter didn’t like being on the other side of the glass, away from us. She didn’t like not having a consistent teacher every week. And she really didn’t like the loud noise as all the students learned to swim. We stuck with it for two months and then cut our losses when she refused to get in the pool.
I wasn’t detoured. Almost everyone learns how to swim, right? I just had to find the right place. I signed her up for group classes at a YMCA. I wish I could say that this second time was a charm, but it wasn’t. The instructors tried, but there is only so much an instructor can do when one student is scared, but the other three are ready to go. My daughter loves the water, but didn’t love being on a platform in the deep end with a stranger trying to learn a new skill.
I decided to give it a rest. Stopping didn’t sit right with me, but neither did forcing her to do something that clearly wasn’t sitting right with her.
We waited two years.
During the summer after her first grade year, I stumbled across the ability to sign her up for one-on-one swim lessons AND you didn’t have to get on a wait list or pay part of a mortgage for them. With a bit of hesitation and hope, we began these lessons.
Fast forward 8 months.
These swim lessons have gone really well. My daughter has worked with two amazing high school students. And while it has felt like her progress has been slow at times, we keep going and showing up, and so do these two instructors. My daughter feels more confident, comfortable, and, most importantly, is learning how to act around water and save herself should she ever be in a precarious situation.
My advice: should your swim lessons not go swimmingly, don’t give up. Find a different organization. Consider a different ratio. Take a break. Hopefully, just like they did for my daughter, things will finally align, and you’ll be quietly cheering on your child as they swim their way down the length of the pool.
