Day 193

I didn't blog yesterday.

I was still trying to wrap my head around what I wanted to say about the day.

Being a parent is a TOUGH job.

Yesterday was one of those days for me.

I am torn.

For the past few years, I have put the kids in swimming lessons at our local pool and it has gone pretty well.

My basic goal is just for them to learn how to swim and feel comfortable in the water.

If any of them want to take it further, then I am all for it, but for now that is all we are aiming for.

This year, Tanner was put into a level that I don't feel like he was ready for.

Which is something that I did, because as his parent, I signed him up for it.

He had passed the previous level last summer so I thought, why not?

I wish now that I had gone with my initial gut feeling and kept in that level from last year, but I didn't.

The other kids in his group are much more comfortable in the water and are swimming like little fish, while he lags behind.

He tries really hard, and I have been so proud of him for that!

But he is very scared to go into the deep end, where he can't touch.

The day before this photo was taken the teacher wanted them to tread water for 30 seconds in the deep water.

He lasted 15, which I thought was awesome, considering he hadn't treaded water since the year before in swimming lessons.

After he got out of the pool that day, he seemed a little freaked out.

When we got to the pool yesterday, he wouldn't go in the water for a long time because he was scared.

I brought my camera with to document fun times at swimming, not the kind of moment I captured.

Looking at this now, I feel so bad that I stood off to the sides encouraging him to go in, telling him that he could do it.

And all the while all he could do was cry.

I am torn, part of me knows that I should push him and encourage him to try harder and do things outside of his comfort zone, and the other part of me is saying, don't push, you will only scare him and any confidence he had in the water.

I still don't know what the answer is.

Any parents out there faced with similar situations? What have you done?