Way back when when Addison went through her regression (around 18 months), one of those things that she started to suddenly struggle with was water. She became terrified of baths which she used to love. Now it was all scary and overwhelming and she wanted nothing to do with water. So we never wanted to push her into doing something she was terrified of. For some kids that's exactly what they need in order to get over their fear. But we knew for Addison that would only shut her down.
However over the last few years she has slowly gotten over her fear of the water and has continued to make huge strides forward of even getting into the ocean and floating with an innertube and feeling comfortable. So it was after last year that we decided we would do swim lessons before our next trip to the beach.
Of course things got crazy between her trying dance in the fall, having a baby, and just adjusting to life with three kids. And suddenly school was on the brink of ending and summer was upon us and I realized that I never got around to signing up for those swim lessons. I started searching and started worrying that we wouldn't be able to get her in before the beach with everything filling up.
But I manged to find some Level 1 classes at our local community center that was Monday-Thursday for two weeks for 30 minutes a day. I signed her up and talked up swim to her which she was actually excited to do.
By the time it was time for her to actually start her swim lessons she was perfectly fine and even excited, whereas I was a bit nervous. Her nerves did kick in once the class started and the first thing they had them do was put their face in the water. That was a very daunting task for her but she tried.
She did well for her first class and by the end of it, she told me she was excited about the next day. That was a major relief since I wasn't sure how she would handle it all. However the second day came and she struggled a bit more. She didn't want to put her face in the water and because of that it was completely holding her back from thinking about kicking her legs or trying to even move her arms. By the time the class ended she looked like she was about to cry and I was worried we backtracking on her fear of the water.
So that second evening we filled up our biggest bathtub, had her get in and put her face in. We talked about how she should do it. She should take a deep breath just like she would when taking her inhaler and hold her breath just like she does with her inhaler. That seemed to have clicked something in her brain and she manged to hold her breath under water for a decent amount of time. We were impressed and she was excited knowing that she could do it after all. It was all about confidence and knowing that she could.
When we went to swim the next day it was night and day. She was putting her face in the water and able to think more about what she was supposed to do with her arms and legs. Just that bathtub practice for one night made a huge difference for her being successful in swim.
By the time we finished the two weeks she really had improved so much. I definitely wouldn't call her a swimmer but she was starting to get it figured out. We are really proud of her and how well she did during those two weeks. She walked away saying that she was enjoying swim and wanting to get right back into the pool.
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