As an adult we are quite cynical about things not working out the way we had hoped. We take a job ready to be annoyed with things a few months in, we go to a party prepared to know very few people and feel a little lost. We buy something we have wanted aware that the excitement, the newness will pass in a little while.
Henry has been begging, I mean pleading for days, no weeks for swimming lessons to begin. I'm not sure exactly what he had in mind but he had built these swimming lessons up to the possible equivalent of ice cream, cake, all his best friends, and trains all wrapped into one. So this morning, the swimming lessons to put it mildly didn't quite live up those grandiose expectations.
He saw his class and stood at the edge and did like a huge cannonball in the pool. The teacher recognizing before him that he can't swim, saved him from drowning and helped him swim to the side. After spending the last year "swimming" in our 102 degree hot tub, he also climbed right out of the pool sobbing (I guess it was a little cold). I spent the next 15 minutes trying my battery of tricks to get him in the pool. Threats, bribes, loss of swim classes, offers of pool toys, lifejackets, etc. I then decided to leave it alone. Realizing this was not "Do you want the jeans or the shorts?", or "You can put the toy away or it disappears" kind of moment wherein I feel quite confident, it seemed this was like a long term situation. I mean, one can't just give up on swim lessons because the pool is cold and we thought we almost drowned.
I thought of my poor mom practically beating all four of us over the head to practice piano (not literally, I don't think). How easy to say, OK little Johnny/Shawna I can see that you are crying and you don't want to practice the piano, well since you are 4/5/6 (whatever the age) and very smart and can make decisions for yourself so there we go. No more lessons.
While I am all for giving children the ability to make decisions for themselves, there are a lot of options my 4 year old just doesn't have yet. Leaming to swim I realized at 10:15 this morning was one of those things. Yet I will be sitting on the deck waiting for a miracle to happen and hoping that by the end of the summer we will be a dutiful swimming student. I have a feeling that is not what he had in mind when he begged me over the last month for swimming lessons to start. Oh the joys of watching my children grow up and find out that life is not always what it is cracked up to be. I thought I only had to live through that once.
UPDATE: Day 2 of swimming lessons, after 15 minutes of shivering and wimpering next to mom on the bleachers, the fullness and boldness of all ultimatums was given ("Dad, when he gets home from work will be giving you a spanking if you do not walk over to the side of the pool, sit there and dangle your feet in"). Somehow the seriousness was sensed and we've been swimming in the pool with the teacher ever since. Victory! (Not that I would recommend this strategy of course, it was just a lucky break!)
Shawna, I love the foreshadowing in this post. Ms. Sullivan would be proud of your journalistic talents. :) What happened at swimming lesson #2? Don't keep your readers wondering too long.
Posted by: Jana Kleitsch | June 30, 2005 at 10:31 AM
Oops, I see there is a "victory" update! Great news for Canon Ball Henry -- and mom.
Posted by: Jana Kleitsch | June 30, 2005 at 10:36 AM