Swimming Lessons

The girls took a 4week swimming lesson class at the Arnold Rec Center a few weeks ago. We wanted them to be ready for the waters this summer. We hoped they would become comfortable with the water and maybe learn a skill or two. Leah hasn't had much experience swimming so I didn't know what to expect.

Abby jumped right in, literally. She had a really great teacher who really paid attention to each child and seemed to make it fun for them. I never worried about Abby during her classes (except maybe that I needed to be watching her classes more.) Leah's classes were a different story.

Leah started the sessions off with one first year instructor and one instructor-in-training. They expected so much out of these 3 year olds right off the bat. Any time they would start a new skill, the instructors did not demonstrate the skills in a way that a 3 year old could understand it nor did they help out each individual child. The very first class, I had to get Leah into the water. She was scared and they were not paying attention, so I sat on the side of the pool coaxing her into the water myself and then walking away absolutely soaked.

This was when I decided to talk to the manager. I was paying for the instructor to work with the children and I shouldn't be the one putting my child in the pool or explaining to her "what the instructor meant." I let him know I was very disappointed with their teaching technique. This was when he told me that they were both new and he would get a new instructor next week. The following week, things did improve but each week, the class had a different instructor.

It was only a short 4 weeks, so it wasn't much time for the girls to become pro-swimmers, but they did get acclimated to the pool. In the beginning, Leah told us she was not going to put her head in the water. On the last day, she actually did go under. She was so proud of herself and wanted to go under multiple times.

Of course our dream is to take them to the pool more often this summer so they can practice their skills. We will have to see what this summer brings us.