**I am pleased to be partnering with Goldfish Swim School to bring you this post. While they are providing lessons free of cost to me, all thoughts and comments are my own.**
We have been taking swim lessons at Goldfish Swim School for almost a year now, and the progress that both of my girls have made is amazing. The past few weeks however have been a bit difficult for Annabelle. She went from loving going to class, to asking if she had to go, and telling me she didn’t want to take lessons anymore. During one lesson there were even tears, and refusing to try.
I found this a bit strange, since she never had a problem with lessons before. She always loved going. After questioning her about it a bit more, she finally told me it was because the island was too far away and she was afraid she would sink. I tried to convince her that Ms. Brooke (her teacher would not let her sink, but she wasn’t hearing any of it.
When we went to our next class I talked with Cindy, one of the people who work at the front desk. I love how comfortable I felt being able to bring up the issue with her.
I explained that Annabelle was afraid of sinking, and didn’t want to come to class. We talked about how the kids are learning lots of new skills, so that it can be scary, but that it doesn’t have to be. We came up with a paln, and decided that having some extra support and encouragement would be beneficial for Annabelle. Unfortunately Ms. Brooke was not there that day due to an illness, but Cindy still made sure the teacher filling in, Ms. Everlyn, knew of Annabelle’s fear. After class when I went to pick up Annabelle she was so excited about how well she swam. The next week, Ms. Brooke was back, and she too made sure to be extra supportive with Annabelle. At the end of class, Annabelle got lots of praise, and a ribbon, so she was pretty stoked. I was relieved that a little extra support helped give her back the confidence she had.
This is one of the reasons why we love Goldfish so much. They really work hard to meet the needs of each individual child. Even though children are grouped based on skill level, there can still be a wide range of ability within each class. As a teacher I know that children all learn differently. What works well for one child, doesn’t work for another. The same can be said at Goldfish, and they really work at differentiating instruction (which makes my teacher heart happy).
I am happy to say that Annabelle is back to her cheerful self when it comes to swim. Both girls love lessons, and can’t wait to show their teachers their skills.