What I Learned from Swimming Lessons

Ahhh, summer swimming lessons.  Where I live they are a kind of rite of passage.  And they have the ability to strike fear in the heart of child and parent alike.  For children, the reasons are obvious.  After reminding them (numerous times probably, and often in a raised voice) to be careful around the water because of its dangers, we now tell them to jump headlong in the deep end and learn to swim…because it’s fun!  For parents, the fear stems from the fact that we know we are not likely to complete the lessons without tears, screaming, and choked pleas from the water to never go near a pool again.  Our family was no exception.

Piper’s swimming lessons began ubiquitously enough.  Day One was pretty good.  She was apprehensive but basically listened and did fairly well.  I breathed a silent sigh of relief and readied myself for an easy week.

But Day Two was not the same.

For some reason my daughter waited until the second day to pull out the sound-barrier-breaking shrieks of terror (and, incidentally, aimed many of them at the poor college boy who was helping).  She screamed about having to swim in the deep end, she screamed about having to put her face in the water, and boy, oh boy, did she scream about going off the diving board.  It was an, um, extremely loud session.

We disciplined her for expressing herself so inappropriately and talked to her about other ways to share her fears. I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth as we walked into Day Three.

No screaming on Day Three, instead the chosen tactic was argue-and-delay.  There was LOTS of drama and many attempts at bargaining (”I don’t want to do it five times!  I’ll do it two and that’s it!”).  Her teacher’s favorite moment of the day was when she was told she was going to learn how to touch the bottom of the pool.  Her eyes widened and in a voice that could win an Academy Award, she moaned “But Miss Tiffany, that will be AWWWFULLL!”  Things seemed to be going from bad to worse.

And then, on Day Four, I learned something important.  Perhaps it would be better to say that God reminded me of something important.  Namely Himself.  So before we headed to the pool on the fourth day, I talked to Piper about why she was scared and reminded her of one of her memory verses (When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3).  Then we prayed and when she looked up, I could almost see the tension ease a bit.  She walked into the pool area that day still a bit nervous, but ready to take on any task she was given.  And she did.

Day Five began with another prayer and, again, she did beautifully.  No tears, no arguing, and the only drama to be had was the excitement in showing her daddy how she could jump off the diving board!

So, last week, my daughter and I both learned something very important.  Piper learned how to make it all the way across the deep end of the pool without swallowing obscene amounts of chlorinated water.  Quite an accomplishment for her five-year-old self.  But I, I learned something that I think is just as valuable (probably more so).  And that is that when my children are scared (or nervous, or sad, or disobedient…the list goes on) my FIRST reaction should be to point them back to God and His Word.  Teaching them to rely on their Heavenly Father is something that will help them in all areas of life, even when it comes to swimming lessons.

*This post is a part of the Mom’s 30-Minute Blog Challenge at Steady Mom.