Break Through!!

I know a lot of you are aware that Carson is pretty much terrified of swimming. And if you're not aware - then I'll fill you in. He took swimming lessons last summer and they basically just scared him. At the first lesson, he was happy and I couldn't keep him out of the water. By the last lesson, he was crying from the minute we drove there to the minute we were driving away. I felt like I had ruined swimming for him for life. I had signed him up for lessons to 1) learn water safety...i.e. Don't jump into a pool w/out an adult, and 2) to learn how much fun water is. We pretty much only accomplished #1. As a kid (and even now) swimming was always the best part of any vacation. It made me sad to see him terrified of something I've always loved.

Back on track, by the end of last summer, I couldn't even get him in a swimming pool. I was hoping he would forget about this little fear by this summer. So June rolled around and our occasional swimming days (at Aunt Vickie's house) started. The first time we went, it took Carson over an hour to even get on the first step of the pool. I could tell his "little" fear had definitely not been forgotten. I tried to force it (gently) a few times...you know "I'll hold you, it's okay, swimming is fun"...etc...etc.) He was not buying it. Once I had the thought that if I could just get him out there with me, he would see it wasn't scary. That was a mistake...I almost lost eye from all the kicking and screaming that occurred.

So I took the patient approach. I didn't want to make a bigger deal of it than he was already making it by himself. So every once in awhile I would ask if he would like to swim with me, and he would always answer no. He always just sat and played on the top 2 steps of the swimming pool. I knew he'd learn to swim sometime. I knew he wasn't going to be 15 and scared of the third step. So I just stayed relaxed. It was also nice that I could sit by the pool and read/relax and know that he was never leaving those first two steps.

Last weekend we had family in town and some of us were swimming in the pool. We were playing "Pirates" with Carson and his cousin (also age 3 also a boy). When the game moved to the middle of the pool, Carson was sitting on the steps all alone, trying to shoot us with his pretend cannons. I swam over and instead of saying "do you want to come swimming" I said "let's go get your cousin with the cannons." He hesitated for a second and then simply said "OK" and he held out his arms. It was a very magical moment for me. I was so happy he was able to overcome his fear.

By the end of the day, he was showing me all the things he could do. Climb out by himself, kick, move his arms, climb along the edge, and jump from the edge into my arms. All the while he just kept saying "I'm not scared Mom...Look, I'm not scared." I was so proud of him. I am also SOOOO excited that I can have fun with him in the pool now. Yay! And I will say, that the year he spent being terrified of pools did have a positive...he definitely still knows that it is not safe to just go into a pool without an adult.