Swimming & Swooning

The kids finished up swim lessons on Friday. I'll have to admit that I am a little sad they are over. Yes, it will be nice to not have to slather sunscreen on them every morning and say, "Why is your wet swimsuit on the floor?" everyday. But I loved seeing them thrive in the environment created by the teachers there!!

Let's just get this out of the way right now: I had a bit of a crush on Ashton's teacher. Oh, and also this: My husband knows and is completely okay with this!! :)

I didn't even see his eyes until this last Thursday, so I would have to say it had more to do with his leadership ability and how he connected with the kids. He was caring and loving as needed (on a one on one basis), but also had the ability to put kids into situations they wouldn't put themselves into.

For example:

• If the kids didn't get in when they were supposed to, he would jump right in front of them and splash them.
• More than once he would take a screaming child from their mother and hold them in the water, reassuring them the whole time, but pouring handfuls of water on their head.
• When the kids jumped to him in the big pool, they went all the way under as he held them. (As opposed to the other teacher, who barely got their chests wet.)
• If a usually cooperative child got out of the pool, he would firmly say "Get in the pool!!" until they would comply. We saw him have this conversation with one girl in particular many times. Her response was usually, "I can't do it!!" But she always got back in the pool and usually did what she just said she couldn't.

While Ashton liked him, she was just enough scared of him to respect him, and excel at what she was learning in class. She got all her bubbles filled in!! While his tactics might have bothered some parents these days, I appreciated his tough love (with 3 and 4 year olds, no less!) approach to teaching. I wonder what his future holds, or even how old he is!

Reed's teacher was also good, but not nearly as dynamic. However, he was very patient and persistent in his teaching, and Reed filled in all but one bubble. If it didn't tie us down so much, I would definitely sign them up for another session. If only for myself...!