Swimming Lessons

I signed the girls up for lots of swim lessons this summer in hopes that it would be my last worried fill summer on the edge of a pool.  The first session went great.  The Magster tolerated her male swim teacher and even grew to like him.  She swam across the width of the pool taking breaths and I heaved a sigh of relief.  Water safety was within reach.

Then, we went on vacation.  On the way home from Colorado, the Magster announced she was no longer going to swim.  Of all the activities in our house, swim lessons is the only one that is not optional.  So I gave her my standard line:  swim lessons or swim team are the choices, but no swimming is not an option.  She didn't respond until the next session of swim lessons started.  

At the start of the last session of swim lessons (this was mid-July), she was placed in a 2nd level beginners class on the first day.  Her instructor evaluated her and she failed miserably.  In fact, she refused to put her head under water.  So, Maggie was moved to a first level beginner class, the exact same class she passed in June, and she failed the evaluation again by refusing to jump into the water to her teacher.  She was then demoted to Tots, the class she passed last summer.  So as I watched my nearly five-year-old who could swim across the pool splash happily with the three-year-olds, steam poured from my ears.  

I tracked down the lessons coordinator and told her my daughter was working the lifeguards and she needed to be pushed a little.  As I stood on the edge of the pool "discussing" my daughter's attitude problem, I saw my daughter refuse again to put her ahead under water.  I was humiliated.  Defeated, I went back to my seat and watched helplessly as the Magster waved at me from the shallow end.  The little bugger.  The Magster ended the session passing Tots but failing the Beginner 1 test, a test she'd already passed in June.  

Given her academy award worthy performance, I signed the Magster up for a third session of swim lessons.  And lo and behold she started the session by swimming across the pool using a crawl stroke on the first day.  Why?  Well, a friend of the family (EP for those in the know) was teaching the Beginner 2 class and the Magster REALLY wanted to be in her class.  If she didn't swim across the pool, it would have been her old teacher back in Beginner 1.  Suddenly, the Magster is swimming like Natalie Coughlin when EP is next to her.  She's diving into the deep end, she's hanging out in the six foot corner of the pool, she's even ditching her goggles because EP doesn't wear goggles.  

And you know, this time around, none of it shocked me.  After the "no-talking-to-teachers-battle" last fall and the earlier "no-sleeping-in-a-crib" power struggle (both battles I lost), I should have known she'd come around on the swimming when she decided the time was right.