Thursday, May 20, 2010

Water Woes, Part Deux

So today was the second swimming lesson. I had to work last Thursday, so I wasn't able to take Sutton to the lesson. We just skipped a week.
We left the house around 10:20, and we got there WAY early. The place is only 10 minutes away, so I drove around a little to kill time. And Sutton fell asleep in the car AGAIN. So he was cranky AGAIN. So the lesson did not go well AGAIN. He cried or whined the whole time. AGAIN.

Which leads me to my dilemma. Do I just cancel the lessons, since it upsets him so much? I feel like the instructor is frustrated with us. There were more kids in the lesson today, and he spent more time with them. He told me that I needed to do a better job of holding Sutton away from my body, so he wouldn't want to cling to me so much. Any time he would try to work with Sutton, he had a crying toddler on his hands. At one point, he said to me, "Is he always this timid?" Are you kidding? This kid is fearless sometimes. I almost feel like he doesn't like the instructor; maybe that's the problem.

I feel so frustrated and upset. If I'm spending the money each month for these classes, I want it to be worth it. I don't to force Sutton to do swimming lessons, but living in Arizona, you need to know water safety. There are swimming pools everywhere. And I myself didn't learn to swim until I was almost 10 years old. To this day, I still don't like to put my face in the water. I don't want that to rub off on Sutton.

So what do I do?

3 comments:

  1. So sorry to hear this girl. First off, any instructor who gets openly frustrated with crying little kids? Should probably not be working with little kids. Jerk...

    As for you & the lad, any ideas what's making him freak out? Just the nap interruption maybe? Or do you think he's picking up on the instructor's attitude? Or your anxiety?

    In my gut, I think, ditch the lessons for a while. Especially if there's a friend or family member's pool y'all could use just to play in! I feel like, if he ever got the idea that the water was fun, he might take a little more to the idea of a structured class.

    Mind you, I'm basing this on what I know of his pops. :) I recall him being a little cranky about going to classes, especially if it meant lost sleep. LOL

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  2. Quit. If it's not fun, don;t do it. We have walked away from a few lessons (music class together class and soccer spring to mind), and I don't regret it at all.

    Instead of driving around if you are early, can you go in and watch previous lessons?

    Are you stressed about it? Sometimes my kids pick up on my stress and flake out on me.

    But really, if you don't like it, don't do it-- you can take lessons later.

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  3. i don't like this teacher.

    but aside from that, I'm with Sarah, can you go in and watch the other lessons, maybe get Sutton to see it from a different perspective and get excited about it?

    Also, if you're around water that much, can you get him into a pool in a non-lesson setting and have fun with it in-between times? Lessons work best when you "practice"?

    Seriously, though, he'll learn to swim. Don't stress about this particular set of lessons. You might be able to get your money back if you complain to the people about the teacher's lack of empathy.

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