She's still swimming!

So K is still swimming and she's such a little show off! She LOVES it!
And my parents just LOVE watching her since I was 2 1/2 years old when i taught myself to swim, according to them. The story goes, they were busy teaching my brother to swim and each one thought the other one was watching me and next thing my Dad knew I was on his arm in the middle of the pool saying "Swim Daddy, Swim!". And the rest (me going off the high dive by myself) was history. So i think they have similar expectations for K... I just want her to enjoy the water... SAFELY!
A little play time before class!
This class she became OBSESSED with splashing! It was awesome! See that determined look on her face? Yep that's the makings of an Olympian!
We float... or i should say her head does, but her butt sinks because she's trying so hard to see my face that she arches her back too much! lol
Big Big Spiders! We're about to go under!
Yea the Kangaroo bounce!
Just went under, look at that pro!
I don't know what is cuter, the fact that she's standing on her chunky legs and loving it or the ruffles on her butt! AWWW! (ignore my weird face, what you do for smiles...)
Play time! She's a superstar!
We've now been swimming for 4 months and she's quite the little show off in her class. We have this one child that i feel SOOO bad for because his Dad really does not make it possible for him to learn. His Dad is scared to do/force whatever the instructor says to do, so as a result his (almost 3 year old) is developing fears (which this class is supposed to prevent). I mean REALLY!?!?! This swim class is to teach water safety and survival swimming, if you don't do the exercises HOW is your child ever supposed to learn these things?

Example #1: The instructor sends the kids down a slide into our arms. They are then supposed to go face first into the water (at least up to their mouths if not all the way under), roll over onto their backs and "float" away. Yea... So this time (since ALL the kids in the class have been attending for at least a few months) she sends them down into our arms BUT there's a hula hoop at the bottom and we're supposed to have them go underwater under the hula hoop and then roll onto their backs. Enter Dad with irrational fears: Not only does he NOT do it, he then says "Oh sorry Daddy got scared". Great teaching there buddy! Now Enter Kinsley: goes right under and pops up (i mean i guide her doing all of this) right up and floats with no problem. Well when the other parents saw Kinsley did it (the smallest baby in the class) they all knew their child had to do it... and they all did... until Dad With Irrational Fears had another turn. This time... yep doesn't do it AGAIN! Everyone else does it.... Okay last turn (by the way he's the only one getting a third turn) He does it, sort of, GREAT! And then he ends it with this when his child is mildly fussing "It's okay, i know you're scared, Daddy is scared too, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry"... Now what will he take away from this experience? NOTHING positive that's for sure!

I went over to the Dad and high fived his kid for going under (yea hmm once he got positive reinforcement he stopped crying!) to which the Dad said his Mom is better about this "stuff". I told him that his son would be fine with most of it if he would just do it and show his son that HE'S okay with it and that it will be okay.

Example #2: The instructor says for everyone to float on their backs, some will have their heads on the parents shoulder and others have been there long enough that the parent just holds the head. So we'll have everyone doing it, whether the child (like the one to our right) is crying/fussing or not or whether they are splashing and sinking happily (my child)... oh but not Dad with Irrational Fears (lets call him DWIF)... HIS son is just being pulled through the water, face up, looking around, doing nothing besides smacking his father in the face while the instructor keeps saying "Okay on our backs, we need to float". Seriously!?!?

So people, teach your kids it's okay and to face their fears, don't instill your OWN fears into them. That isn't helping ANYONE out!