stinestuff: 4/20/14

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Swimming Lessons... and drama!

Harrison has been taking swimming lessons for the past month through a groupon I found online. The company is renting time in a local gym's pool until their facility is finished in June. There are other swim instructors who teach there as well.

The first week Harrison was excited, but nervous. He did okay, but came away saying that he didn't want to go back. When we got there the second week he fought me the whole time as we arrived and got dressed. Once he actually got in the water he did well though. He had a substitute that week and I was a little concerned about that as he was so uncomfortable already.

That second week was the first time we saw the other lady who also teaches there. She does the baby saving technique training that you might have seen on YouTube. There was an 18 month old baby being taught to float on her back by just letting her lay there on the water flipping her again and again. I couldn't watch. It was horrifying. The mother was sitting there reading a book as she screamed and screamed. It was made worse when after the lesson the substitute talked to me about how kids can aspirate with that method of training and that she couldn't watch it either. Very disturbing!

The next week, we had his first teacher back and Harrison did great. He gained some confidence, but had to put his face in a lot more and didn't care for that. The other teacher was there again with a small child, but the mother was in the water this time and it seemed gentler. This time his original teacher also talked to me about how she had told the people that run the facility that she refused to be scheduled at the same time as the other teacher and she would talk to them again.

So here we were again, the fourth week this week. We had a different substitute and the other teacher was there again, but luckily with older children who could swim. Before the lesson began, the substitute whispered to me. I had to get down very close to her to hear and she talked to me about how she was filling in for this company, but that she doesn't like the way they do things - "It is a cookie cutter approach and it will work for many kids, it's fine, but it's not for everyone..." She asked me to please not mention it to them, but she would like to teach him today with her own method so that I could see the difference and choose for myself if I wanted to work with her or continue on with the first company (where my Groupon was expiring).

She was actually really wonderful with Harrison. He was smiling so much and having a fun time. He was asking to try the swim moves again instead of being encouraged to do it. He trusted her and told me that he liked her best. So now I'm in this awkward situation where I don't care morally for the way she presented herself, but Harrison does so much better with her.

I guess as long as Harrison learns to swim, I'll just deal with all of the extra drama until I have another little fish on my hands!