Swimming badge: The SUPERHERO SPLASH

Monday, June 3, 2019


I have to admit something: I hate taking my kid to swimming lessons. I want to love it. I want to feel inspired and excited by the process, and all the potential, but truth be told, I despise the whole thing. I don't have to go in with my oldest anymore, which is a relief (also an impossibility with another (younger) kid in the mix), and I've managed to read a few pages of a book every now and then. Or school through Instagram, or send a few long-overdue emails, but mostly, I just sit on the humid bench hating everything. (Mostly, I just want to trade places. He can sit on the deck, and I can swim. Wouldn't that be amazing? Half the pool for lessons, half for the parents to go for a dip themselves?)

My oldest is not (yet) a fan of the water. It's definitely gotten better. Tuesdays last fall would start at 7am with swim-dread and it would build and build until the 5:30 time slot and it would make the day unbearable. So far, that's subsided, which is a huge relief.

The thing is, I remember HATING swimming lessons. I loved swimming, I loved the water. At my grandparent's cottage, I'd be in the lake minutes after breakfast and would stay in until it was time to roast marshmallows at night, but I HATED swimming lessons back in the city. I'd always fail. I could never tread water. The other side of the pool was always so impossibly far away. Instructors were either too harsh or too chipper and no matter what I always wanted to impress them and always disappointed them.

It's such an intense situation—a tiny window, one-on-one, once a week, charged with expectations. It's such a lose-lose situation, really.

So I get it. Jack, I totally get it. But, as a wise dad friend of mine says, there are two things that are non-negotiable: swimming lessons and school. And so, we eat "bravery unicorns" on the way there, and celebrate with hotdogs afterwards (Side note: I distinctly remember getting McDLTs after my lessons at Norseman Pool!)

Mid-way through the term, my brilliant fella realized that "dunks" were the biggest point of fear, so he re-branded them, "SUPERHERO SPLASHES" and I can't even tell you what a difference that made. It was incredible. Thank god for marketing backgrounds...

Jack finished up last week and got a mama-made badge celebrating his superhero splashes, and my very brave, still-very-scared-of-the-water kiddo tried every week. Really, what more can you ask for?


AND my fella made him the most incredible book—photos of superheroes swimming, alongside photos of Jack in the pool. He just about burst when he saw himself next to a photo of Spidey and it's now fully in the bedtime reading rotation. I'm hoping this softens his memory of the pool, reshapes them even, so that instead of the fear, he remembers his bravery, his courage and the rush of pride in his accomplishments.

Here's to hoping. And to a summer of swimming joy...(it'll be warm enough one of these days, right?!) My goal is to make this summer all about having fun in the water. I want it all to feel lighter, and more playful. I want the pressure to be off. I'm so hoping we can find that, my kiddo and me.





You Might Also Like

1 comments

Blog Archive

Labels

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 52 lakes A Big Deep Breath A Comparison a veritable miracle A-plus west end pools accessories alex duff pool algonquin park all the pools all the swimming holes aquafit Aquatic Centre in Regent Park argentina Art Art of the Swim atlantic ocean Awenda baby shampoo backyard pools Backyard wading pool badges bancroft bancroft and the Kawarthas bathing caps bathing suits Beach bears berlin bingo blogging blowing bubbles books Buckskin Lake buenos aires bunchfamily butterfly cambridge Camp Tanamakoon canoeing carilo Catskills CBC CBC Radio cheddar ontario Chicago Chlorine christie pits christmas claire cliff jumping coach dave Coaching insight cocktails cold water swimming Collecting Colouring cottage cottageing courage COVID-19 Covidcation Craft crowd-courced crowns ctv news dave ling Dawson's Pond docktail docktails Donald Summerville Pool dreaming of swimming driveway puddle earlscourt park edmonton elora elora quarry English Channel Etobicoke etsy Europe every single fast lane Extreme Heat Alert Fall 2017 fall swimming fast lane first swim Flesherton flipturns floating fouling French 75 Gallagher Centre gary clement gatineau Gatineau River Georgian Bay germany gifts Giovanni Caboto Giovanni Caboto pool goggles Great Lake great lakes Grey County guardian swim Guest blog guest swim Habermannsee Haliburton halloween Hampstead Heath Ladies' Pond Hanlan's Point heaven High Park high park pool highlight reel highlights homebody homemade badges Homstead hotel pool iceland illustration inclusive change rooms indoor pool Indoor Pools instagram Intercontinental Yorkville interview jack jessica j. lee jon klassen Joy julia zarankin jump jumping jumping in kate greene kate pugsley kawartha dairy kawarthas Kelso kerry clare kiddos kiki and polly Killbear Provincial Park kinmount Lake lake erie lake huron Lake Kennebec lake la peche Lake Louise Lake Ontario Lake Ontario and pools lake swimming Lake Temiskaming lakes lambton kingsway pool Laura Wills leanne shapton leeches length swim leo lionni lessons Letting Go lido lidos lifeguard towers lifeguarding Lindsay Lindsay Recreation Centre lindsay sutherland Lindsay Zier-Vogel lisa congdon lisa golightly local swimming hole london long distances long hair long hair caps Long point long point provincial park loons love love lettering project Lucky Peach manhattan pools margrit talpalaru Marilyn Bell mark tewksbury martha graham martingrove bears master swim club mat leave matisse Meaford meghan markle melodrama memoir Memory Mendoza Metro Morning michael phelps Michigan lakes Middle America Miles Nadal JCC minnow bathers miracle miranda july missing MoMA my local myvatn nature baths natural pools nebraska new pool new pools new year New Year's Eve new years new york city Newfoundland night swimming nightswimming norman hardie nova scotia novel ocean ocean swimming olympic pool olympics olympics 2016 ontario Oshawa Oshawa apartment pool outdoor pools outdoor swimming pack and play paddle paddling pam mcconnell aquatic centre pandemic pandemic swims papirmass park lawn pool parklawn pool parks and rec patrice hall pattern design PEC pells pool penny olesiak perfectionist PFDs photos picton pinehurst lake pisces poetry Polar Bear Dip pond Pondering Pool pool swimming Pool: Sunnyside pools poolsitting prairies pregnancy pregnant prince edward county prince harry PSA public pools quarry Quebec Radiohead railcar cottage rain reading recipe recipes relay report cards resolutions Rhya Tamasauskas Rio de la Plata River river swimming rivers road trip road trips roadtrip rocktails rosehall run royal wedding runner running salt water saltwater pool sandbanks Saskatchewan sauble beach Saugeen Schoolhouse Riviera sculpture seaweed secret swim shade's mills Shannon Litzenberger Shebeshekong Bay Sketchbook skimmer skinny dipping skinnydipping slow lane smores smythe park pool smythe pool snacks sprinting st. john's legends swim club stedmans Stirling submission suburbs summer summer 2016 Summer 2017 summer 2018 summer 2019 summer camp summerary sundhollin Sunnyside Sunnyside beach Sunnyside Pool sunrise sunsets superhero splash suzanne moreau swim swim art swim blog swim crown swim goals swim lit Swim Mantra Swim Meme Swim retreat Swim Rituals Swim Scenes swim tether swim weekend Swim-ventures swimiracle swimlit swimming swimming attire swimming caps swimming friends swimming hole swimming holes swimming hotel swimming lessons swimming pool swimming pools swimming song swimmy swimply Swimsuits tall poppy tanamakoon tanis rideout team mermaids Team Swim technique thanksgiving the 6ix The Beach The Beaches The Deep End this is not my hat tilley hat tips TMU toddler toddlers Toronto Toronto Island Toronto Masters of the Universe toronto pools trackpants transistor radio travel ontario Travel Stories travel writing triathlon turning twelve mile lake Twitter Two Lakes UK underpants uniform University of Toronto Uruguay user guide Varsity vicki smith wading pool warming stations Wasaga Beach Water water therapy waterfalls watermarks weeds Weisser See west end west end phoenix West End Toronto westview beach villas whip kick wild swimming Wilder Lake Wills Laura winery winter picnic winter stations winter swimming worlds smallest bookstore writing xmas Yorkton zier-vogel lindsay
©2016 Lindsay, Rhya & Laura.
... Powered by Blogger.