Every year since Jack was born, we've taken a parent/child water exposure class at the Y in the Spring. We all got in the pool and sang songs and they practiced a few skills. It was a lot of fun and Jack always seemed to enjoy it. This year, at 3, he was too old for that class and would have been moving up to the first real swim class. However, in typical Leigh-Emma fashion, I waited too long to enroll him and it was all full. I asked Grams and Gramps for help and they found this great instructor at their pool who was willing to do private lessons with him. Sounded perfect to me...
Joss is the instructor's name and look at his red hair! They match! He is so patient and calm and really did great with Jack, who is very hesitant in water and in new situations with people he isn't familiar with. It took almost all of the 30 minute lesson the first week to convince Jack to leave the steps, but he finally did it!
But you can tell from the look on Jack's face, that he wasn't really enjoying it. He is such a cautious child. He gets it honest - I'm a very cautious person as well. But it's often hard to tell with him if it's that he really isn't enjoying it or if it's just too new of an experience for him to be comfortable with. I was hopeful that the subsequent weeks would be better, but after week two it seemed clear that this year wasn't the year for Jack to learn to swim. Maybe next year will be better, or maybe the year after that. We tried and I'm really proud of Jack for giving it a go!
*If you haven't noticed already, I record a lot of things here for my own future reference. When it's time to start swim lessons with Max, hopefully I'll be able to find this post and remember that 3 wasn't the right age for Jack and assess whether or not it's the right age for Max. Max is, so far, not a cautious child at all, so maybe 3 will be right for him, we'll see! So while this might not have been the most exciting post ever, it will come in handy one day I hope! :)
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