For those of us who have kids, do your kids swim?
I had this vision of teaching my kids to swim (I was a WSI instructor) and they would be strong swimmers who love the water.
It didn't turn out that way! :eek:
My son (he's 12) had this aversion to getting water in his face and he developed a fear of the water when he was about 5 when he had some trouble in the water and his friend's parent pulled him out (I was not there at the time). We paid for some private lessons for him to overcome his fear. He will get his face wet now and he can swim well enough to attend a pool party but he's not a strong swimmer and has no desire to learn.
My daughter (age 5) picked up on her older brother's fears of water in the face and she has continued on with her fear of the water in a similar fashion.
My son never allowed me to teach him. He wanted nothing to do with it. My daughter will allow me but my time is very limited. I'm trying to get her into swim class next month to help with this. She wants to do it but is also has some fear. My plan is to be away from the deck while she's in the class so she won't search me out to "rescue her".
I don't care if they want to swim on teams or anything like that. I just want them to be competent in the water.
For those of us who have kids, do your kids swim?
I had this vision of teaching my kids to swim (I was a WSI instructor) and they would be strong swimmers who love the water.
It didn't turn out that way! :eek:
My kids -- ages 12, 11 and 5 -- do swim competitively. It took me awhile to learn how not to try to coach them and I'm still like an addict who has to remind himself to take it one day at a time. I fall off the wagon sometimes -- like the last meet when my eldest daughter breathed on the 1st stroke off the wall in a 50 free!!! -- but try to keep reminding myself that I'm the parent.
Having said that, as I swim longer in Master's and reflect more on my own swimming career, I find myself trying to focus more on ensuring they're having fun and that they're able to balance a sufficiently competitive swim program with their academics, friends & other pursuits. I really want them to enjoy their swimming so it becomes a lifelong pursuit.
I do try to help their coaches/team create an environment where the kids can be successful via officiating and sitting on the board of the team. Those are probably much more useful roles for parents.
Finally, as others have noted, when I do slip and try to coach my own kids, they -- either in words or actions -- tell me to go back to being a parent.:D
For those of us who have kids, do your kids swim?
I had this vision of teaching my kids to swim (I was a WSI instructor) and they would be strong swimmers who love the water.
It didn't turn out that way! :eek:
My kids -- ages 12, 11 and 5 -- do swim competitively. It took me awhile to learn how not to try to coach them and I'm still like an addict who has to remind himself to take it one day at a time. I fall off the wagon sometimes -- like the last meet when my eldest daughter breathed on the 1st stroke off the wall in a 50 free!!! -- but try to keep reminding myself that I'm the parent.
Having said that, as I swim longer in Master's and reflect more on my own swimming career, I find myself trying to focus more on ensuring they're having fun and that they're able to balance a sufficiently competitive swim program with their academics, friends & other pursuits. I really want them to enjoy their swimming so it becomes a lifelong pursuit.
I do try to help their coaches/team create an environment where the kids can be successful via officiating and sitting on the board of the team. Those are probably much more useful roles for parents.
Finally, as others have noted, when I do slip and try to coach my own kids, they -- either in words or actions -- tell me to go back to being a parent.:D
