Our summer has been insanely busy…MUCH busier than normal.
We’re taking six weeks off of school for the summer and I’m intentionally trying to make this a fun time for my children rather than just not doing school and being bored at home.
I’m also trying to balance that with built in days at home to recuperate from all of the fun…I need those days and I think my little one do, too.
For the first two weeks of our summer, I signed up my four small children for swimming lessons at the YMCA. I even signed up Jenny, my newly turned three year old to join in.
I was super nervous about how Jenny would do, especially after our first day.
She was so little in the big pool that I think it got overwhelming for her. I could barely see her little curly head sticking up out of the water as she held onto the wall.
She started our great, but after the first five minutes of the first lesson she was in tears.
The young instructor sat her down on the wall of the pool and asked her why she was crying. She replied in between hiccups of crying, “I want my mommy!”
I could tell that he must have gone through some kind of training of how to handle children that was a little lost on my three year old. He patiently replied with, “Yes, I understand you want your mommy, but can you tell me WHY you want your mommy?”
Y’all…I almost laughed out loud.
Maybe I did.
I could easily tell him…She’s three. She’s overwhelmed and scared. That means the wants her mommy. Simple.
Anyway, she ended up sitting with me and refusing to get back in the water after that.
On the second day, I donned my swim suit (sorry…no pictures of that!) and joined her in her swimming lesson and she did much better!
On the next day I wore my swim suit and got in the pool with her, but she went “swimming” with her instructor and I stayed on the side lines.
On the last day of the first week, I wore my swim suit just in case I was needed, but sat on the bench and watched her.
In this way, I gradually worked with her until she was comfortable enough to go into the pool on her own on Monday of the second week and I didn’t even wear my swim suit!
By the end of the second week my little Jenny was all smiles and was an eager participant in her swim lesson!
Also, during the second week all of my kids participated in “The World’s Largest Swim Lesson” in which this YMCA was a part of before their actual lesson.
Summer swim lessons were a great way to kick-off our summer break and enjoy doing something fun and different together!
(Why is it that I can only get one out of my four children to actually look at me when I take a picture?)
Nancy Olson (namoFl) says
What a delightful story! Love the photos of your beautiful children! So glad the second week went well for sweet Jenny. Would love to know the name of the font you used on the photos. I’m a fontaholic and digital scrapper!
Monica says
Thank you! I used Sofia in the first picture and KC This is Not Goodbye for the others. I’m a fontaholic, too!