Monday was Kenzie's first day of swimming lessons. No more "Mommy & Me" she is old enough to be in the pool by herself with her teacher, WOO HOO! She was super excited and day 1 was fabulous! She jumped right in, did everything her teacher (Miss Katelyn, whom she LOVED) said and was a swimming superstar! Day #2: Her teacher, Miss Katelyn, that she loved so much, was sick. Mr.Brian was her sub. I could tell Kenz was a little weary of the different teacher, but none the less, she got in the pool and did her lesson. Half way through she whispered to me "Am I done yet? I want to go home!" I told her she needed to finish, and she did and was fine.
That brings us to today. We walked in through the gates to the pool and Kenzie sees Mr.Brian (not Miss Katelyn). The tears start flowing. "I don't want to swim! I want to go hooooome!" She begged me. What do I do, what do I do?! Do I avoid all humiliation and just take her home? Or, do I make her stay? It may sound corny or cheesy but I really took this as an opportunity to teach her a life lesson. We stayed. I told her she was committed to swimming lessons and she needed to get into the pool. She had a choice: she could get in or I could put her in. You guessed it. I put her in the pool. Kicking. Crying. The whole nine yards. But she was in. And she did everything her teacher instructed her to do, all while crying and even pulling out the whole "I waaaaaaant myyyyyyy DADDDDDDDDY" card. After 15 minutes though (it's a 45min class), she stopped. And she completed her class. And she was fine.
I guess the whole "Life lesson" I wanted to teach her was that yes, in life, things don't always go as planned or the way we want, but we have to adjust. And when you have a commitment to something, you have to follow through with it whether you like it or not. So, was it a good day? Yes! I actually left swimming lessons feeling pretty darn good. I could have been mortified, because Lord knows during those 15 minutes I wanted to crawl under a rock and hide because that was MY child swimming while crying in the pool (it helps that it is a class of 3 so this event was only witnessed by 2 other moms who were very supportive!). Also, my heart was breaking for Kenz because I know she was intimidated and not comfortable with her new teacher. But I also knew I was there and she was okay. SO, instead, I left swimming lessons feeling like today, I really did my job as a parent, and I just gave her a small piece of a gigantic puzzle that is going to make up the crazy, unpredictable, throw curve balls at ya, adventure she will call life.
