Swim lessons - part I

I wrote a few posts about Violet's swim classes last year, and in particular one about the last teacher she had, Lacey. For reasons I didn't understand, Violet never took to her.

This summer, I signed Violet up for swim lessons again.  Before she started, we talked about them, how she was going to be a good listener, keep one hand on the wall, not talk while the instructor was talking.  She was agreeable and even enthusiastic about everything, right up to the moment we walked from the car to the pool.  And then the teacher called the group together.

The teacher was Lacey.

Violet took one look at her, and she refused to get in the pool.  We were finally able to get her in, but she was crying and carrying on.  I watched the entire first lesson anxiously.  I kept seeing Lacey ask Violet if she would perform certain skills, and Violet would look at her suspiciously and shake her head.  By the end of the lesson, she had participated enough that the pool manager thought that she would be ok.  But I know my girl, and I started making plans to see what other options were available.

Turns out, there were no options available other than taking a credit for the class and trying again for the next session.  At that point, I had a big discussion with Violet about exactly what the problem with Lacey was, and it was basically nothing.  I told her that she was going to have to finish out this session, and then the next session, I would make sure she had a new teacher.  She refused and refused and refused.

I took her to the second class, and it went only marginally better.  She screamed and cried when I brought her to the pool, but then she calmed down during the class.

Before the third class, I told Violet that if she did well for Lacey for the rest of the session (eight classes total) that I would get her a new lunchbox with her favorite characters from the movie "Frozen" on it.  I figured I had to get her a lunchbox for when she started preschool anyway.  I might as well make it sound like a reward.

"I don't want a 'Frozen' lunchbox," she said.

"What kind of lunchbox do you want then?" I asked.

"What kind of a lunchbox would you get me if I don't go to swim class?"

She is sooo naughty!

At that point, I basically let her know that she had no choice; she was going to the swim class regardless.  So she might as well cooperate, participate, and be a good girl and get the lunchbox.  Otherwise, it was going to be a long two weeks for all of us.  Thankfully, she agreed.

In the end, she really ended up liking Lacey.  The way that swim lessons through the city recreational department work, however, is that you have to register for the next session before the current one ends.  So I had signed up Violet for lessons at a different pool where she wouldn't have the possibility of having Lacey as a teacher.  By the end of her class with Lacey, though, Violet asked if she could have her again.  I told her no, and I was both gratified and irritated when Violet whined, "Why not??"

She has since gotten over it, for reasons that will become clear in my next post.