Swim lessons - part II

After the drama with the last swim session, I decided to sign Violet up for lessons at an entirely different pool.  This was partly so that I wouldn't have to worry about her having Lacey again and partly because the new pool's classes worked better with my schedule.

When Violet's new teacher called the class together, I was a little relieved to see that the teacher was a guy.  For some reason, Violet did really well with her male swim instructors last year.  As the lesson progressed, however, I was somewhat dismayed to see that the class was mostly remedial.  They ended the first day playing games that Violet played when she first started taking lessons last year.

Of course, she loved them.

She left that lesson saying how fun it was.  And she couldn't stop talking about her teacher, Cory.

The entire day and the next day, she kept talking about how her teacher was Cory and he was really nice.

During the second lesson, I watched, hoping that Cory was only starting slowly to get the kids used to it.  There are only four children in the class, and one of them is really small and timid.  I noticed that Violet always seemed to follow this child.  So instead of jumping far out into the pool like I know she can, she would only jump to the teacher like the small boy before her did.  Instead of swimming out to the teacher, she would require him to bring her out to the middle of the pool like the little boy did.  She would refuse to put her face in the water for as long as she could, because the little boy was scared.

After that lesson, I told the teacher that I thought Violet could be pushed more.  With Lacey, she had mastered all the skills for her particular level except for the last two, which were side breathing and streamline kicking for farther than 15 feet.  Up to that point, Cory was concentrating on just having the kids do back and front floats.

I told Violet, "I want you to show Cory that you know how to swim.  You are one of the best swimmers in the class, and he doesn't know it."

"I'm just following what my friends are doing," she said.

I told her no, she needs to show her teacher what she can do so that she learns more.

The next morning, before her class, Violet told me that she wanted to draw a card for Cory.  She asked me to "write the words" for her.  I asked what she wanted me to write.

"Violet and Cory," she said.

I told her she could write "Violet," and I would write "and Cory" under it.  She agreed, and then she drew a picture of the two of them together.

Considering this was only the third lesson (out of eight), I figured I wouldn't make too big an effort to remind Violet to bring the card with us to the class that day.  As we drove up to the pool, she suddenly remembered.

"Oh no!" she wailed.  "We forgot the card for Cory!"

I consoled her that we still had several more lessons with Cory, and that she would have plenty of chances to give him her card.

I've told a number of my friends about Violet's current crush.  A few of them have tried to engage her in conversation about her teacher.  Each of these conversations have followed pretty much the same script:

"Violet, are you taking swim lessons now?"

"Yes."

"Who is your teacher?"

"Cory," she'd say, with a sidelong look at me.

"Is he nice?"

"Yes."

That's usually the extent of the conversation.  I think my friends are hoping that she will rhapsodize about him the way that she had been with me, but she is getting wary.  Also, the third and fourth lessons were much more rigorous than the first two had been, so I think Cory is starting to seem less fun to her.

We are already signed up for the next session at this same pool.  The bloom may be off the rose a bit, but Violet is still hoping that she will have Cory for her teacher again.  He is a good teacher, obviously enthusiastic, but there is a lack of engagement with the kids that I have found to be typical of a lot of the young men who teach at the rec center.  You can tell they like the kids, but this is ultimately just a job to them.  I personally would love to go back to Lacey.