Confronting Fears

Ethan tends to be a little reserved when it comes to trying new things. And learning to swim has been no exception. We've been taking "Mommy (or Daddy) and Me" classes at the Y since he was little, but he's never gotten much beyond his fear.

The classes at the Y are very crowded — and expensive — so I decided I would try signing him up for a class through the Park District. Unfortunately, those classes fill up fast (think 3 minutes). So I had to sign up now and ask questions later. Turns out, I signed him up for a No Mommy class.

Well, I promised Ethan I wouldn't make him go to the No Mommy classes until he felt ready, so I chalked that one up as a donation to the Park District and forgot about it. Until last week when the neighbor girls started talking about their classes at the Park starting this week. Since our class at the Y has been a disaster (20 kids with parents, 10 of them yelling at the top of their lungs through the whole class), I decided to do something horrible — I broke my promise.

I managed to talk Ethan into trying the class at the Park, and told him he wouldn't have to go back if he didn't like it. Then I sent him off with John, because he tends to cling more to me.

He was a little upset at the start of class, and was crying when John went to hide in the corner. But after about three minutes he stopped crying and did very well.

When John went to get him after class, Ethan yelled "I LOVE my swimming class," and couldn't start talking about it for the rest of the night. He said he was upset at first, but, "The teacher told me we shouldn't cry because this is fun. So I stopped." (If only we knew it was so easy.)

So he's taken another big step in growing up — and discovered how good it feels to confront your fears. We're very proud of our little guy.