Swimming lessons

Oh, wait, I don't think you can call it swimming unless you get into the pool. :)

Duncan started swimming lessons today. Up until now it's always been swimming with Mom or Dad in the pool. Well now he's of an age where it's guppies 1 (which I think the goal is to get them to put their face in the water), and it also means no mommy or daddy in the pool. Aferall, the point is for him to learn how to swim on his own eventually.

I knew Duncan might need to do guppies 1 a few times before moving on, but I had to laugh when literally the entire lesson today was trying to get him into the pool. They tried everything (so did I!). A life guard came over to try and coax him in (it's just the kiddie pool), and then the head life guard came over and tried. Nope! There is this little ledge between the kiddie pool and the leisure pool, which is about 6 inches of water, and he had no problem wandering around there - after I took off my socks and shoes and rolled up my jeans and walked through with him. But he would not get in the pool. Until the end when it was time to go down the slide, and then he tried to push past the one other kid in the class to go first. Ah, that's my boy. So "no Duncan, it wasn't your turn" and he had to back up, let the other boy go, and then he went down the slide into the pool just fine.

So perhaps there is hope down the road (of course there is). I spoke with the teacher and the head life guard who both assured me there is always one or two in every class. But I also said I didn't want to be a meddling parent, and what would they prefer I do to help. They suggested we come early and go swimming together 1st. So I will try and do that on Friday (it's 2x a week, which I think will be good).

He is such a funny boy. I knew he would be hesitant, but I also know he's curious b/c they were playing some pretty fun looking games. We'll see!