And the rest...

There are five children in my daughter's swim class. On the first day, when there were only three children, the instructor really impressed me with his thoughtful, individual attention and judicious, appropriate use of each of the children's names. On the second day a new boy, Lewis, joined the group and I began to hear his name and the other boy's name, but the two girls had suddenly become "the girls". On the third day, a third boy, Kevin, joined the class. This not only solidified the girls' collective appellation of "the girls", but I began to hear "Kevin", "the boys", and "the girls".

Does this instructor's ability to differentiate names stop at the number 3? Is 4 his "crow busting" number? Shoud I be concerned that he is in charge of the safety and well-being of my quiet, nascent swimmer?

The instructor's name? I think it's...The Professor.

Comments

Shez said…
I'm not a fan of group classes. My kids did 3 group sessions at the Y and didn't learn to swim. I ended up putting them into private lessons. Shira started swimming like a fish, but Ben still could not swim. I realized that every time the instructor wanted him to do something he didn't want to do, he batted his baby blues at her and she backed down.

mean mom then found another swim instructor, a male this time who coaches a swim team. Ben was swimming before the first lesson ended, and he was as mad as hell with me for foisting this tyrant onto him. LOL. I Learned my lesson. This summer I signed them up for more swim lessons (more stroke development than anything else). This instructor was also a male, swim team coach. The difference in my kids' swimming is amazing.
July 31, 2008 at 3:24 PM
Lynne said…
You don't know the half of it!

But I will rise above my desire to pick on small children (collectively known as "the boys") who at least have the courtesy not to physically violate my child's space even if their errant behavior takes all of teacher's time and attention to control!

Phew - glad I rose above it.

These rinky-dink local lake swimming lessons have been okay for the last few years. She's behind in her stroke development but can actually swim. This is a bonus given her pool - gene pool, that is.
July 31, 2008 at 4:18 PM
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