The Swim Teacher

This summer Jason taught the kids (well, Frannie and Adam) how to swim! He asked a couple of other dads who taught their kids and they said the trick was just to take them every single day. So Jason made up his mind to do just that. As soon as he got home from work, the kids put their swimsuits on and went with Daddy to the pool. 

Frannie started out being afraid to put her face underwater, and now she can swim all the way from one end of the pool to the other with her face down and everything! She looks like a little froggy when she's swimming. 

Adam didn't even want to go into the water, but despite his clinging to my legs and crying, Jason forced him to go in and use his floaties.

And he likes it! He now asks to go swimming everyday. 

As for me, I've been sitting around either in the house, or watching by the poolside.

Making sure Nattie doesn't plop herself into the pool. 

Or run off too far with the keys. You can see it in her eyes how she's saying "Mine!"

I am so so so happy that the kids learned how to swim. I tried to teach Frannie some things last summer but wasn't able to get very far. I find that when she is resisting and being very squirrelly, I tend to go into drill sergeant mode. But Jason has taught me that with skills like this you just have to do a little bit every single day. Just get them to go a little bit farther than the previous day and they'll make big progress. I know for a fact I wouldn't have gotten her swimming the way he did! As for Adam, I also know for a fact that I would have let him stay in the house all summer because he was afraid to go into the water. Jason knew that he just needed to get him in there and make him work it out. And he was right! It is a big weight off of my shoulders knowing that they are learning such an important life skill!