teach my son to swim

Tadaa! This is the seahorse-badge that my son got for being able to swim and that I now have to sew on his swimsuit.

:)

Swimming with my son this morning was kind of fun. I got to swim a bit for myself and he also showed me how well he did.

But then there was the problem with learning to dive….
He needed some time to warm up first and after that it was no problem and he tried to dive by himself many times. But going somewhere else, I had to start all over again and the insecurity was back as if nothing had happened in between. (We had to go somewhere else because it got too crowded)

In the end Max was simply tired and couldn’t stop crying again.
Sigh…
He’ll be starting in a more advanced group on Saturday but with only a handful of children and more teachers. Maybe they can focus on Max a bit more in the beginning and challenge him in a different way than I did today?

Today wasn’t good…. Not at all.
Max was sooooo close to making it to finally dive, but he had a sudden anxiety attack and didn’t even want to swim anymore at all. In the end the teachers dragged him into the water, crying, and sent me away…
^{They even blamed me for cuddling my son into being insecure, which is not true at all. I just don’t like to just throw him into the water and told him instead how well he does to make him feel more confident. Grrreat hm?!
They’re actually really good teachers, but today something was veeeery off…}

Now I have to find a different approach to get Max to try to dive. Maybe one morning next week he can stay home from kindergarten to go swimming with me and to dive together? Maybe that’ll help…

I had this goal on my list before and didn’t think of adding it again – until now.
BECAUSE HE CAN SWIM!!!
:)
He started out this morning with a few foam blocks on his back and they were taken away one by one without a problem.
In the end he swam 25 m without help and almost has enough to get his first badge (the seahorse)!

The only thing he now needs to do to get his badge is to dive to retrieve three rings. That’s going to be a bit of a challenge, because it’s difficult to reach those rings (they are touching his toes) while holding on to the side and keeping the eyes closed…

But next week he’ll make it, I’m sure!
:)