Thursday, May 28, 2009

So, About that Swimming

Last week I managed to put on my swimming suit and sit on the side of the pool during the swimming lesson. The (teenager, non-parent) swimming instructor thought it a bad idea for me to actually get into the pool, because he presumed Felicity would then not pay any attention at all to the swimming instructors. But as it turned out, my being poolside was all it took. Felicity got a smile on her face, got in the water, started working her kicks, and even came back beaming about how much fun she was having. She hasn't developed a whole lot in the way of swimming skills, but at least she has recovered from her long bout of water refusal. And the pool has warmed up, too. She even practiced jumping into the pool from the side and let herself go partly under water, so it seems fear is not her issue, just comfort.

Kwamai has been doing fine. The quality of the swimming instruction (since it is usually a different set of student life guards each time) has not been that great in terms of systematic progression from one skill to the next. But, it is an opportunity. It would probably simply be worth our while to go to the open swim and practice skills that way during the summer.

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