Swim! Tread! Float!
pamelamyers | July 5, 2018
The weather has not been fabulous this summer so far (what a surprise) so once again, we have not made it to the pool much. It finally warmed up and we decided to take advantage of it and go. Besides the fun, Mark really wants Sam to improve her swimming skills. She really doesn’t want to take lessons again and wants Mark to teach her but he didn’t seem convinced she would try. I convinced him to give her a chance. Sam really did try and worked really hard at improving her skills. Her swimming form is not great, but she can move through the water. Mostly, she needs to work on getting stronger. She has no problem going under water, as long as she has her goggles with the nose piece. She does NOT like water up her nose (but who does, right?) She has gotten better at treading water, but still can’t float. To pass the pool test, she has to be able to swim the entire length of the pool, tread water for 30 seconds, and float for 30 seconds. Not too bad, but she is not there.
We kept trying to convince her that if she gets better at swimming, she can pass the pool test and then she can go anywhere she wants, even off the diving board or down the slide. She said she doesn’t want to, so that’s not working. The fact that if she passes, she can go into the lazy river by herself is more of an incentive. Well, finally, we were there and a friend, Delaney, from her class was there. The two girls were playing, swimming around, and Delaney got Sam to jump off the side of the pool, something Sam would never try to do. Well, once she did it, of course, now she loves it. So…her confidence was building. Each day we went to the pool, Sam tried harder and harder. She actually swam the whole length of the pool for us – twice! And she was able to tread for two minutes! Once she realized she could do those things, she was determined to pass the pool test. She knew all she had to do was learn to float. Well. She did it. The kid is an expert floater now. Just like everything else in her life, literally EVERYTHING, she cannot and will not do something until she decides she wants to. But when she decides she wants to, look out! Here she comes. She never did get a chance to try to pass the pool test because after all her practice we thought she’d be too tired to make it, but I would bet anything before summer’s end, she’ll pass!
