There are many things in our family that are not options.
Most of those things are medically related items. Even Charles, who does not
have the necessity for a medically induced regimen is effected by these things
that are mandatory items of our day. The day comes to a halt for everyone to
get medicine done frequently, really it happens all day and it can be very
frustrating, especially for the kids.
Orson and Charles are
best friends (just ask them) but if Orson needs to get his medicine inhaled/swallowed/injected
then playtime grinds to a halt (and is often annoyingly interrupted) until the
task is completed. So when it comes to other optional choices in life we (“we” as
in me and my husband, I don’t have a mouse in my pocket) try to see them as
such instead of forcing things that really won’t affect the moral character and
happiness of our child.
One thing we have decided to not force on our kids (the
parental crowd is going to go wild on this with disagreement I know and I have heard
it before believe me) is swimming. Maelee picked it up quickly and eagerly very
young. Charles did not (until this summer, hold on and keep reading). Orson has
not yet.
The boys love to play in the water but the action of
swimming without being able to touch the bottom of the pool is not of any interest
to them. Frank and I never having been Olympic quality swimmers ourselves and
feeling like it hasn’t stopped us from anything we wanted to do in life, focus
on safety and fun in the pool with the kids. Charles was ecstatic when he grew
tall enough to walk the majority of our community pool with his head above
water. At the beginning of the summer I tried to teach him to swim and lost
that battle very quickly. The battle being him insanely angry and upset and me stopping
trying came and ended fast with Charles the victor. Then he got a coast guard
approved life vest and was worried still about it not functioning properly in
the deep (six feet folks) water. So one morning I dragged him into the deep end
with him screaming enough to bring out neighbors living around the pool to check
on us and he saw that indeed his snuggly fitting life vest worked great. He got
the feel of things and the motion of his movement in the water and before we
knew it he was taking off the vest and swimming all around the pool all on his
own self instruction. Still in the shallow end yes, but hey that’s where I do
all my swimming too. So we figure it’s a 2 thumbs up experience (both my thumb
and Charles thumbs are the two thumbs in case you were wondering).
So yes there is Charles’ very exciting success story from
our pool time this summer, but then there is the reality also that in my eyes
especially towards the end of the summer, swimming is more trouble than its
worth. With the piles of wet swimsuits, puddles all over the house, any space
being used to change clothes is completely trashed, working around the baby’s
naps, etc., etc., etc.
Of course I love my 13 month old with all my stinking heart
but holding her in the pool is only fun for about 20 minutes. Make that 15 and
set the timer please. She proved the need for me to wear a swim shirt this
summer when she roughly and insistently pulled down my swim top (and although that’s
a great way to make strangers feel awkward and leave you alone at the public
pool it is very terrible when it happens around all your neighbors many of whom
your attend church with). So with that in mind my desire and tolerance for
taking my kids swimming this summer has fizzled out to taking them out of guilt
for the sake of their summer enjoyment or doing anything else I can think of to
avoid it. So if there are any other moms out there who feel the same way I do
in regards to swimming loosing its charm when you have a whole flock of
ducklings this comic is for you. For you other moms who remain beautiful
mermaids all summer and swim your tails off, my hands are clapping a big round
of applause for you right now.
