Swim Lessons

KK started swim lessons today. I had been thinking about doing them for over a month now but needed an indoor pool. There isn't any place locally but we did find a place about a 35 minute drive away. Last summer KK only made it through a few weeks of swim lessons at our local pool. Aly was so afraid of lessons and would cry that it made KK scared. So for the rest of the summer I put her in a float vest and let her have free play during Aly's lessons.

By the end of summer KK was very comfortable in the water. So comfortable in fact that she would demand to take off her floatation vest and claim that she could swim without it. She would go a few strokes and gradually start sinking towards the bottom of the pool. Of course I was right next to her but I did let her sink a bit so she would be humbled and learn that she can't swim yet.

This year we decided it was best to put KK in lessons all by herself. She tends to be fearless and is willing to do most things. Aly influences her though and if Aly is scared of something, it makes KK think she should be scared. So now I am taking KK to swim lessons alone while Aly is in school.

I am confident we made the right decision! Today she was thrilled to go to swim lessons and did everything the teacher asked her to do. She even put her face in the water and didn't cry about it.

Our plan is to see how the next 4-6 weeks of lessons go for KK. If she makes good progress we may consider introducing Aly to this place and seeing how she might progress there. Otherwise, we may just have to take things slow with Aly and let her stick with the doggy paddle for now!