Swim Lessons

The past two weeks, Sydney and Jack have been taking swim lessons. Sydney has approached swimming as she did potty training last summer... with stubborn refusal, an insistence that the way things have been is the way things should be, and a final reconciliation of change brought about by bribery.

The main difference is that I think a fear of the water is a healthy fear and should be respected, so I wanted to really make sure that we didn't add to her fear while helping her overcome it. To that end, we hired Angie, a local swim instructor, who has been wonderful at working with Sydney.

Angie is patient, soft-spoken, and spent a great deal of time the first few lessons building trust and easing Sydney into the water. We also timed Jack's lesson in the middle of Sydney's because we found that Sydney was so interested in having Angie's undivided attention that she would push herself to new levels just to get Angie to look away from Jack!

Our only hiccup was Sydney not understanding that when Angie said "will you put your face in the water" or "I'd like you to float to me" that she wasn't really asking. When Jeremy and I speak to Sydney that way, we really are asking or expressing our wishes, not giving commands. Once Sydney learned Angie's language and Angie caught on to Sydney's many negotiation tactics and realized that Sydney actually understood the command "no negotiating!" the lessons progressed smoothly.

We are two weeks in (with one more week planned) and already Sydney can swim underwater for about five feet... the length of time she can be underwater before she needs a breath. I imagine next week's lesson will be about how to come up for air. Her goal, and Angie says she is confident Sydney can reach it, is to be able to swim the width of the pool with only one break in the middle.

If she can do that, she get a Belle Barbie.

Bribery, I tell you, it works.