I am not an atheletic person and so is my husband. Because of this we decided or promised for that matter, that when we get to have kids, we'll do everything to make them physicaly active. Given the chance, we would allow them to get involved in sports.
When we moved here in Sydney, I realized that it will not be hard to make our son join sports activities because there are a lot of sports made available to parents and kids.
Since I and my husband are frustrated swimmers, and it seems that swimming here is a big thing, we decided to enrol my son in swimming lessons. We thought that we will not have a hard time sending him to school since when we got out swimming, he does enjoy the water. But I was wrong, the formal lessons are different with leisure swimming.
This is my son's 4th week already and it was only this week that I didn't have to go with him in the pool. The first week was a trying week because he cried so loud when his teacher was giving the lessons. It was a big cry indeed! I was sad and thought that I might be pressuring my son too much. Some friends even told me that swimming might not be his sports. Well, I did consider that but I think giving up on the first week is not really a good idea. I was not ready to give up yet.
With the help of his cousins, I asked him to swim with me again and his cousins on another day. No teachers were present. At first he was showing the same signs he showed during his first day of swimming lessons. But thankfully, he didn't give a loud cry. Still, I knew that his 2nd week will still be a hard one for me.
True enough, when the 2nd week came, he still cried, but this time, it wasn't as loud and it was not an attention-seeking cry. I came to realize that maybe the trick that I did was indeed effective. I decided to have another lesiure swimming with my son and his cousins but due to unforseen events, we were not able to push thru with it. So on the day of his swimming lesson on Week 3, we went to the school early for us to have leisure swimming first just before his classes. It did not help that there were kids who were screaming and crying. I think seeing them made him remember his fears. But I still did not give up. I did everything to distract him.
Now on his 4th week, I didn't have to take a dip in the pool anymore! There was no crying and screaming. I was happy to see that finally, he was able to enjoy his swimming lessons. He follows the instructions of the teacher and plays on his own while waiting for his turn. I was able to see how my son was able to overcome his fears. And I am happy because I was finally able to document it! I hope this experience taught him something about patience, perseverance and overcoming one's fears -- courage. Hopefully, he'll get to use it when he grows up. I am happy because I felt that I myself learned another lesson in this experience. Like what I've said or written before, our kids and our experiences with them teaches us to become better persons without even trying -- this time, I am thanking swimming. ;)
