Swim For Your Life

Swimming lessons are over at least for now. This is the third state we have taken lessons in. We say goodbye to the Mercer pool and hello to the Bainbridge pool, which from what I can tell is pretty cool. I haven't told the boys yet, because I want to see their reaction when we walk in there, but there is a lazy river and water slide. They can't get over how cool the Legacy Center pool was last summer in Lehi Utah. That is where we took our lessons last year. I know "No consistency!" Needless to say we have not been the most diligent in teaching this skill. We are however giving our children lessons in the geography of this great nation by moving from one end to the other every few years and visiting pools along the way, hoping that by some miracle they might just pick up this skill.

Blake has come along way in two weeks. When we first arrived he would not put his head under without holding his nose. He also could not swim. Now he is swimming in the lap pool for his lesson and working on freestyle stroke, with his breathing technique. He will get it. Unfortunately every time he comes up for a breath he forgets to kick and thus starts to sink...multitasking is hard when you are six!

Sam is moving along quite nicely. He is working on back stroke, freestyle, breast stroke, flips to a kick off and diving in. Pretty good seeing as this is the third set of lessons for him. The teacher is trying to get him to dive off the board, but Sam was never taught how to dive off the side of the pool, so the concept of gliding in just on the surface is a little frustrating for him. Especially when he can't figure out how to execute the dive. We will keep working on this. He really wants to be on a swim team. His dad keeps telling him that he was on a swim team when he was six. Sam is nine. His goal is to be able to do this next summer on Bainbridge. I know he can do it!

Then there is Claire my little Mermaid. She is doing Okay...She didn't want to jump in to her teacher. You know without holding the teachers hand while she jumped. She stood on the side shaking her head for about two minutes {it seemed way longer to me} so I got up and threw her in. The teacher caught her of course. Is this bad? There was one Mom there that I could tell was appalled by this behavior. She is not scared for life. Now she knows her teacher will catch her and if she doesn't do what the teacher says her Mom will come over and throw her in. Do you think this is why they don't want the parents around for the lessons?

Jack is on the fence. He will not stop holding his nose to go under the water. I am hoping peer pressure at Scout camp may cure this. I never thought I would welcome peer pressure. He got a late start on swimming, so we will have to work a little more on this when we get settled in.

I want my kids to learn this skill and love to swim. They can do this for the rest of there lives. Golf, tennis, and swimming three sports I hope to teach my kids....oh yea and Basketball, the most important one of all!