The boys like swimming… at least on their own terms. We went swimming yesterday at a friend's pool, but the pool wasn't like the one at the YMCA, which has a zero-entry "beach" where one can wade into the water. This was just a traditional in-ground pool. Brennan, Tanner, and Elijah were terrified. They screamed and cried, "No Mommy! No Daddy! Please, No!!!"
After quite a fuss, I pulled Brennan and Tanner into the pool and, lo and behold, they liked it! Standing in the three foot section, clinging to the pool's edge (the pool may suddenly get deeper after all), the boys refused to play but refused to get out either. So I pried their fingers loose from the death grip and, suffering another barrage of "No Daddy! I don't want to drown!", threw them out into the middle of the three foot section. Each son bobbed to the surface, waded back the ladder and said, "Look Mommy! I'm playing in the pool! It's fun!"
"Fun?! The fun was over half an hour ago," I thought. This right here is a life lesson.
We steadily progressed, each step loudly protested with tears, but we progressed. I had a pretty good workout, shot putting 40 pound children across the pool. By dinner time, the boys were jumping in the pool on their own, holding their breath, diving for the pool's bottom, and generally having a blast. But there was still one more crying protest to come.
When we had to get out the boys cried, "No Mommy! No Daddy! Please!!! We want to swim! Please don't make us get out!!!"
No comments:
Post a Comment