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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,598
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Would you let this coach teach your baby to swim?


@Eileen in Virginia wrote:

How is this different from water-boarding? That baby can’t possibly be a threat to national security! 


@Eileen in Virginia   That's exactly what came to mind for me - waterboarding.

 

When this kid grows up to be a serial killer because of the trauma, I hope he/she comes after that wretched teacher!

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on." Jimmy Buffett
Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,309
Registered: ‎12-01-2012

Re: Would you let this coach teach your baby to swim?


@CelticCrafter wrote:

@RealtyGal2 you'll see I pretty much had the same experience at the Y.  I'm 65 years old and never did learn how to swim because of that.

 

The elementary school where my daughter went to school sponsered swimming lessons at a local Y during school hours, but my daughter was not wanting to go.  I never had swimming lessons and wanted her to learn.  I loved going to the pool and could not understand why she didn't want to go.

 

Finally she told me that the teacher said that if she did not go off the diving board that they would throw her in.

 

I sent a note with her that said "No one has permission to throw my daughter into the pool."

 

She handed it over and I got a call from the young lady who was the instructor.  She said that "parents often hold children back."

 

I stuck to my guns.  No one had permission to throw my daughter into the pool. 

 

I believe my daughter felt impowered by that note, more than diving off the high dive.  It also taught her that she could always come to me if in a situation involving another adult.  I'd be there for her. 

 

 


 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,592
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Would you let this coach teach your baby to swim?

That was very disturbing.

 

like many posters here, I also have a story in my past, of someone using horrible teaching methods in an effort to “teach” me to swim.  In my case, it was an aunt who expected me to be able to swim like my much older cousin.  I was terrified.  

 

I eventually became a very good swimmer, thanks to proper teaching, and I taught two of my younger siblings to swim, making it fun and letting them do what they were comfortable with. 

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Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,183
Registered: ‎05-08-2016

Re: Would you let this coach teach your baby to swim?

That is horrific. Many years ago, I took my daughter to a highly regarded swim school. She was five. She had had a few lessons when the instructor asked her to jump in the pool. She didn't want to do it, so the instructor pushed her in! We never went back.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,612
Registered: ‎10-25-2010

Re: Would you let this coach teach your baby to swim?


@Anonymous032819 wrote:

My maternal grandfather's way of teaching my mom to swim as a child?

 

He litterally threw her in to a lake and said "Sink or swim".

 

 

Yeah, my mother's dad was a real "winner". 

 

Not.

 

To her last day, she had a fear of deep water.


My husband's uncle threw him off of a boat into a river to teach him to swim.  The river had a strong current and the outcome wasn't good.

 

To this day he is afraid of water.  We go boating at a lake.  The water is very deep,over 200 ft in some spots,  but he wears a life vest and gets in.  It took me years to convince him that the life vest would would allow him to float.

 

When he went to the police academy, he had to jump off of the diving board and get to the side of the pool and climb out to pass. He did it, but I was shocked that he even tried.

 

My two sons are like their father and won't get into water they can't stand in.  My daughter is like me...born to swim.  No matter how hard I tried, my boys never would cooperate in trying to learn .  No bad experiences for them.  They just picked up on their father's fear.

 

All of my grands swim, taught by me and it came naturally for them.