Swimming Lessons

Swimming has been one of my main frustrations for a few months now. I want Brode to have fun in the water, while also feeling confident and safe.

Brode began swimming lessons around 6 months in a parent child class. After a few sessions of that and a bit of a break he moved up to the "shrimp" class for 3 and 4 year old. During his second go around in shrimp he had a mishap where he ended up too deep (my heart rate goes up picturing it again).

My goal with swimming has always been safety. The neighbors have a pool, we're always my grandparents cottage, and we've seen first hand in the PICU what a near drowning can do. My biggest fear is anything ever happening to him and I don't want him afraid of the water when it is always around.

We tried moving up to the next level (and multiple new pools) but it proved he was too nervous after his incident. He fell behind the other kids and feared putting his face in the water. There was no way he would pass without going under or putting his face in the water, and the teachers didn't want to re-teach him in that level.

Backwards we went back into shrimp. He got nowhere and it wasn't a challenge as they don't stress going under in that level. He was incredibly stuck so we decided to take a break.

Break lasted all of 3 weeks and with conflicting words from different teachers we decided to put Brode into private lessons.

Tuesday night was his first of nine private lessons. By far our best move and he did AWESOME! He took right to Miss Amy and they had a lot of fun. Without the time waiting between kids they were able to cover a lot of different skills and spend more time on them. Our main goals aren't perfect swimming, they are to be confident in the water alone without clinging to me or the teacher, as well as learn to go under. If we can get through private lessons getting those skills he would be able to pass through the next levels with the other kids.

He wasn't happy about going, but he laughed through the whole lesson and was incredibly proud of himself! Progress!