More Spice than Sugar.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Well 50-50 aint bad, I guess.

What a way to start the summer. We kicked off the first day of summer with our first swim lesson. It started out GREAT!! Tons better then I expected. He is not by any means scared of the water so they started him off on level 2. But there are certian things he doesnt like to do. 1 is get his face wet (weird hu?) and 2 is lie on his back. He wont even do that in the bath tub with 1/4 inch of water under him. Well the other kids in his class I think had all started out on level 1 classes so they kinda knew the routine etc. Not Trey. But she told them to get in and put their face in the water. Well I thought "Oh no here we go" and resisted well my urge to go talk to the teacher and tell him he couldnt swim at all (yes he is my baby and I have pregnancy hormones kickin in ). She wanted them to just slide in the water and hold onto the edge and put their faces under water. Well he did it like a champ and loved it. He was so proud. He was having a blast. Then she wanted them to slide (push) off the wall and she would help them come to the surface then they would hold on to a buoy and kick. He did that too. I was suprised. Then she wanted them to hold their hands up in a dive position and push off face first (Superman glide) to make the be horizontal so they could kick. Well he held his hands up then would just slide straight down. After he did this about 2 times she reaches up and grabs his hands and snatched him in the water totally scaring him to death. He starts crying and choking. When he got back to the wall he was almost hysterical. I still did not go over to him thinking she would take a second to calm him down. Nope. The next time she came to him it was time to float on his back. Well by this time he was terrified and was fighting tooth and nail. He almost ran from the pool. I had to keep him from leaving. The teacher never really took a moment to calm him down. She was very cut and dried and all business. As a matter of fact at one point before all this started he had to go to the bathroom and I went over to him and told him to tell his teacher (I like for him to learn to talk for himself) and he said very politely but definatley loud enough for him to hear "Ma'am, Ma'am.." literally like 10 times. She never even made eye contact with him or me. Sooooo. Not thrilled at the first lessons. I'm hoping he will go back tomorrow and be able to have some fun and not be terriffied still from today. We have told him how brave he was and how proud we are. I hope she concerns herself tomorrow more with the kids (yes even the ones she doesnt know the parents of to chat with) and less with being chatty with parents who are her friends. Here's hoping he will begin to enjoy swim lessons.



In the very beginning with 2 of the other boys. He was having so much fun.
















If you can click on this and enlarge the picture you will see the huge proud smile on his face.
















She was telling him he had to lay on his back before he could leave.




He did lay on his back very reluctantly and then she put her hand on his throat to keep his face straight up and not looking down. Putting your hand on a 4 year olds throat while they are already in panic mode is not a good idea. At this point (ok before this) he had shut down and when someone panic's you dont teach them anything. They arent learning anything untill you calm them somewhat.

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