But it is nice to make a bit of money quickly, and I do love working with children, and it is really special that it is something I do with my daughter. This year was tough because it was never really very warm, and the poor kids were always so cold. Most of them were pretty good sports, shivering and purple, but still trying their best.
While teaching swimming I decided that swim lessons are a good metaphor for life. Some kids plunge right in with no regard for the consequences - like the 2 little boys I was constantly guiding back to the steps when they got in over their heads. Some kids are extremely tentative and cautious, or even fearful. Some are overly dependent on the artificial buoyancy of being held up by floats or adults. I do enjoy the challenge of working with all these types. It is very similar to raising children.
~First thing is to teach them some safety skills and boundaries - no going in the pool without an adult - stay on the steps until it is your turn.
~Develop a good rapport with them, make it personal. Use eye contact. Yes, you have to get down in the cold water too!
~Give them enough support to gain some skills and confidence, and then gradually have them rely more on their own power.
~Intuit when they need a little extra support and encouragement
~Don't get upset over mistakes and mishaps, just calmly remind them how to spit and blow water out of their mouths and noses, and to inhale only above the surface!
~Try again.
~Keep learning fun with games and props and jokes
~Applaud acts of bravery and effort but with an "I knew you could do it" attitude.
~Challenge them to push themselves to new levels and to try new things even if it is scary
~You can give them advice but don't flip out if they don't take it (put some goggles on, pull your hair back). Some kids may do things in a way you don't expect but that works for them.
~When they are ready, let them do it all on their own. You have to let go of them.
I am very hard on myself with the teaching. I am always wondering if I could do something better or something more. Is there a better technique I could be using? Would this child do better in that group?
Did I push this one too hard or this one not hard enough?
In the end though I know we were very successful. Every beginner swimmer that came through our lessons this year was putting their face in the water and making some kind of swimming progress through the water by the end of their session. Some learned to float or to swim underwater, or to really swim a beginner freestyle or elementary backstroke. Some of the more advanced swimmers learned to breathe to the side during freestyle. Some learned to dive. Some learned backstroke or breaststroke for the first time, or how to push off properly from the side for these strokes. Every one of them gained some confidence, some safety skills and learned that swimming lessons can be enjoyable.
We had a lot of happy parents, and one parent in particular, who last year had said something about our lessons being too expensive but then after trying lessons in a couple of other places over the winter, and signing up for our classes this year, declared to another parent at the end of her second session with us that our lessons are "the best swim lessons in Chapel Hill". I am really glad that the other parent told us about that comment. Swim instructors need positive feedback too!
Every year I remind myself of how much I wish I just had free time in June with no lessons, but then I think about how satisfying it is when we see the kids learn to swim. I am pretty sure I will be back in the pool next summer on those chilly mornings, exhorting the kids to "kick kick kick! Little fast flutters!" and "reach and pull!"
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