No Excuses.

The girls started swimming lessons last week.

Last year Afton went through a session of group lessons through the city.  After 5 WEEKS of the hustle and bustle that swim lessons requires, they recommended she repeat the course.  It was such a disappointment.  It seemed like such a waste of time.

This year, some friends of ours recommended a private swim teacher to us.  Her name is Liz.  They said she's incredible.  They said you won't believe what she can do with your kid in such a short amount of time.  They also said how tough she is.

Example: 

Emme cried the ENTIRE 30 minutes of her first lesson.  Not just cried, full on temper tantrum.  Liz wouldn't have anything to do with it.  She knew Emme wasn't even two.  She knew she'd never had swim lessons before.  She knew she was nervous.  But she didn't accept any of those excuses.  Emme was expected to swim- and get over everything else.

After the first lesson, I wondered if I had done the right thing.  If Emme was too young and I should just wait until she was a little bit older when she understood things better and wasn't quite as nervous.

But, I knew we had to try again.

Today, we went to swim lessons for the second time.

Today, Emme didn't cry until the last 5 minutes!  Today, Emme found her way to the step, pulled herself out of the water, sat down on the step and waited for me to come get her.

You should have seen the smile on her face.  It said something like, "Look Mom, I just conquered my fears.  I was nervous and scared but I did it anyways"

___________________________________________________________________________________

On our drive home, I couldn't stop thinking about what I had learned from the strict swim teacher, Liz.  I wonder if I ever hold my kids back because I'm too nervous they can't do it.  If I don't place enough trust in them to do hard things no matter what.

After seeing that smile on Emme's face today, I realized that if I hold her back (or make excuses for her, or don't let her try) she will never get that smile on her face.  She won't ever know how awesome it feels to get over your fears and do it anyway.

I think she deserves to feel that as much as she possibly can.  
And I'm going to do my best to let her.