Can Everyone Please Stop Swimming?
Enough with the Mommy & Me swimming lessons, people. Stop guilt-tripping me. Stop encouraging me to sign up. I'm lazy. And I'm a cheapmommy. I'm saving for all those activities my 2-year-old will demand when she's 5.
Seriously, has there even been a parent generation more into swim lessons for the seriously tiny? As I write, infants everywhere dunk their faces in water, while toddlers practice backdives in the L'il Louganis Club or whatever. But is all this swimming really necessary? Yes, I've heard the case for indoor pool-fests: tykes splash all morning and take nice long post-swim naps. I get that, and naps would be nice again. But I'm not going to swim to get them back.
I figured Crabtot wouldn't be into swimming either. It isn't in her genes. I spent my early years in Shiloh's country (Namibia) and even on the hottest days I couldn't be coaxed into the pool. Childhood pics depict me poolside in a woolen sweater, so that when invited in I could say, "No thanks. I'm really cold." Cold at noon in the Kalahari desert. Right.
Last summer, Crabtot couldn't be tempted either. On blistering days when even Crabmommy wanted to frolic in water, C-tot had no interest. I took her to magnificent lakes, but she insisted on toddling back to the car park, where we spent whole afternoons filling buckets with hot gravel.
No wonder I figured she'd learn to swim at the ripe old age of 6, like Mom. But then she asked. Yesterday. For swimming lessons. The phrase "swimming lessons" crystal-clear—after all, she hears those two words all the time around these hyper-athletic parts. Thanks, Crabtown!
So...my answer: "Who wants pizza pockets?"
A successful stall, but for how long?
Will Crabmommy be forced into a racing-back Speedo maillot? Stay tuned.
Hey CM,
We have lots in common, I also grew up in the desert (arabian), but I love to swim and I take my children to the pool and lake and until they are 4/5/6 they wear life preservers (I have seen two small children drown while there parents were trying to supervise/sunbath).
However, teaching really young children to swim is actually NOT a good idea. In fact it can be dangerous. Many children who drown accidentally are children who have had lessons but of course are too young to save themselves and are too comfortable around water (no fear).
Here are some expert tips on why children under 4 may be too young for lessons!
http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/pa/pa_infswim_hhg.htm
MK
http://mommyknows.com
I was also amazed to read that the American Academy of pediatricians does not advocate early swimming lessons for kids. I'd have thought everyone was pro swimming (except those of us too lazy or annoyed to be doing it), but apparently even the docs are opposed.
I used my twins as an excuse. I couldn't possibly handle 2 babies in the water! No need to rush. My boys had their first lessons at four, now at six, they are pretty decent swimmers and look forward to their next lessons.
My husband being great lovers of all things aquatic, did follow the crowds and enroll our poor 9 month old in one of park slopes most enviable privtae school's swimming lessons and he was miserable. The water was cold and he clung to dad like a limpet. Needless to say we abandoned that one and are waiting until he is older as swimming lessons prior to that will probably relegate him, as did crabtot, to collecting gravel in the parking lot every time we hit the beach.
My husband being great lovers of all things aquatic, did follow the crowds and enroll our poor 9 month old in one of park slopes most enviable privtae school's swimming lessons and he was miserable. The water was cold and he clung to dad like a limpet. Needless to say we abandoned that one and are waiting until he is older as swimming lessons prior to that will probably relegate him, as did crabtot, to collecting gravel in the parking lot every time we hit the beach.