Last week, at last, Sebastian reached a major milestone. He passed his Level 1 Swimming Certification.
This is a boy who sinks like a stone. He is really struggling with his swimming. Since Nursery he's had weekly swim lessons at the school and he is still wearing arm bands. After the swimming gala lat term, Marc and I decided we needed to intervene. I had visions of a 16 year old walking around New Quay trying to impress the girls with his surfing abilities wearing arm bands. I would not be held responsible!
We signed him up for private lessons at the Leisure Centre in Windsor. He joined Jamie and Ben, mates from school. Both these boys could probably swim the English Channel and Sebastian held them in pretty high regard so I figured they would inspire him to focus and figure this dang thing out.
It wasn't working. 2 weeks ago, the instructor refused to give him his certificate because he was messing about and not listening. He wouldn't prove that he could do all the things she needed him to do despite her confidence that he could. Well, that just made him mad. He was humiliated.
Humiliation is a strong motivator. On Monday Seb received his certificate. He was seriously proud of himself! I was too.
3 comments:
My son, Joe, never could pass a swimming test. He can "swim" but he doesn't do it like it is supposed to be done.
Remember the bumblebee. Aerodynamically, he is not supposed to be able to fly.
Sue
I'm glad he earned his certificate. I think everyone should know enough about swimming to be able to save themselves if necessary - they don't have to like it as long as they can do it.
Not sure Seb could save himself just yet....couple more levels and I'll be happy. This is important because he loves to sail. If you want to sail, you got to swim!
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