There’s nothing quite like the joy of watching your child achieve a new
skill. I have been watching Kai swim on Friday nights. He goes in the water with
Dad and he looks forward to it even after a full week of activities and a full
day of day care. My heart swells when I watch Kai and Dad walk onto the pool
deck, toting their pink and purple towels. Jeff recently informed me that, “this
won’t do, we can’t be rollin’ in with these girly towels”. Hilarious! I do
realize they’re not super cool beach towels but they do the job!!
Watching Kai I've learned a few things:
•I see him try new things on his own terms (e.g., he executed a stellar
cannon ball last night)
•I am watching his confidence build as he attempts his back stroke (the death
grip on Jeff's neck looked less intense yesterday from the viewing gallery)
•I see his evolving self esteem as he starts to do these new skills
automatically ( he just doesn't want to dunk his head and risk ruining his hair
style today!!!)
I can tell that Kai is learning too:
•Being proud means finding me in the viewing gallery to say, “look what I
just did”, after leaping from the side of the pool
•Fun means sliding down the slide for the 10th time in a row (the other kids
usually get 2 slides in while Kai aims to max out at 10!!)
•Problem solving is deciding who will slide down the slide next
•Patience is waiting for his turn to “walk” across the floating blue mat
•Risk taking is dunking his head (this is still a little scary and ruins the
hair!)
•Performing is finding Mom to make sure she’s looking at me
It’s amazing to watch and to really observe your toddler explore the world.
As for swimming, we’ve come a long way with Kai and his comfort level in the
pool. We tried the same class when he was just a year old and he whined the
whole time and clung to Jeff like a baby monkey clings to its parent. Now, he’s
ready and I really enjoy watching Kai swim. It’s a quick 30minutes and
afterwards, although he’s a little blue in colour and his socks are always
soaking (?), we have lots to talk about. It’s the talking and sharing the
experience that continues to build the independence, confidence and self-esteem
for Kai.
I have to admit that I sometimes worry that I don’t have Kai in “enough”
activities. I constantly wonder: Maybe I’m missing an opportunity? Maybe I
should be challenging his gross motor skills more? Maybe he needs to learn how
to do new sports starting from a young age? But after lots of thinking and
talking, Jeff and I agree that we believe in the quality of experiences over the
quantity of experiences as being best for our family and for Kai. I have no
doubt that Kai will have lots of enriching experiences but I also want to keep
exposing him to lots of activities so that he can make decisions about what he
wants to do.
For Kai's next activity, we might try gymnastics, but since it's winter we
might also introduce skating or skiing this year. We do lots of talking with Kai
to chat about what the sport is like. We have already started talking about
skiing and "swishing" down the hill. Kai loves to chat and learn about it before
trying. He also has shown us that he likes to observe and see others doing the
activity before he drives in. This is definitley a Jill-quality because Jeff was
and still is always keen to get right in there and with little hesitation.
Connor and I are also starting swimming in the new year. It will be fun to
get out and the class is for me but Connor will be floating around in a little
boat. I hope it will be great! If I become brave, I'm going to have both boys
with me for lessons at the pool and I'll put Kai in the unparented class while I
parent Connor in another class at the same time. This is the ultimate in
mom-balance! I'll have to be well rested and super "on" because Kai and Connor
are slippery little boys and I have all kinds of images of how this experience
could turn terrible in seconds!! I don't have a picture of Kai swimming at the
pool here in Calgary but here's one of him swimming during our recent trip to
Kelowna.
Swimmy in the hot tub
So for now, we’re swimming but who knows what activity we'll be into next.
Anything's possible in the House of Q.
skill. I have been watching Kai swim on Friday nights. He goes in the water with
Dad and he looks forward to it even after a full week of activities and a full
day of day care. My heart swells when I watch Kai and Dad walk onto the pool
deck, toting their pink and purple towels. Jeff recently informed me that, “this
won’t do, we can’t be rollin’ in with these girly towels”. Hilarious! I do
realize they’re not super cool beach towels but they do the job!!
Watching Kai I've learned a few things:
•I see him try new things on his own terms (e.g., he executed a stellar
cannon ball last night)
•I am watching his confidence build as he attempts his back stroke (the death
grip on Jeff's neck looked less intense yesterday from the viewing gallery)
•I see his evolving self esteem as he starts to do these new skills
automatically ( he just doesn't want to dunk his head and risk ruining his hair
style today!!!)
I can tell that Kai is learning too:
•Being proud means finding me in the viewing gallery to say, “look what I
just did”, after leaping from the side of the pool
•Fun means sliding down the slide for the 10th time in a row (the other kids
usually get 2 slides in while Kai aims to max out at 10!!)
•Problem solving is deciding who will slide down the slide next
•Patience is waiting for his turn to “walk” across the floating blue mat
•Risk taking is dunking his head (this is still a little scary and ruins the
hair!)
•Performing is finding Mom to make sure she’s looking at me
It’s amazing to watch and to really observe your toddler explore the world.
As for swimming, we’ve come a long way with Kai and his comfort level in the
pool. We tried the same class when he was just a year old and he whined the
whole time and clung to Jeff like a baby monkey clings to its parent. Now, he’s
ready and I really enjoy watching Kai swim. It’s a quick 30minutes and
afterwards, although he’s a little blue in colour and his socks are always
soaking (?), we have lots to talk about. It’s the talking and sharing the
experience that continues to build the independence, confidence and self-esteem
for Kai.
I have to admit that I sometimes worry that I don’t have Kai in “enough”
activities. I constantly wonder: Maybe I’m missing an opportunity? Maybe I
should be challenging his gross motor skills more? Maybe he needs to learn how
to do new sports starting from a young age? But after lots of thinking and
talking, Jeff and I agree that we believe in the quality of experiences over the
quantity of experiences as being best for our family and for Kai. I have no
doubt that Kai will have lots of enriching experiences but I also want to keep
exposing him to lots of activities so that he can make decisions about what he
wants to do.
For Kai's next activity, we might try gymnastics, but since it's winter we
might also introduce skating or skiing this year. We do lots of talking with Kai
to chat about what the sport is like. We have already started talking about
skiing and "swishing" down the hill. Kai loves to chat and learn about it before
trying. He also has shown us that he likes to observe and see others doing the
activity before he drives in. This is definitley a Jill-quality because Jeff was
and still is always keen to get right in there and with little hesitation.
Connor and I are also starting swimming in the new year. It will be fun to
get out and the class is for me but Connor will be floating around in a little
boat. I hope it will be great! If I become brave, I'm going to have both boys
with me for lessons at the pool and I'll put Kai in the unparented class while I
parent Connor in another class at the same time. This is the ultimate in
mom-balance! I'll have to be well rested and super "on" because Kai and Connor
are slippery little boys and I have all kinds of images of how this experience
could turn terrible in seconds!! I don't have a picture of Kai swimming at the
pool here in Calgary but here's one of him swimming during our recent trip to
Kelowna.
Swimmy in the hot tub
So for now, we’re swimming but who knows what activity we'll be into next.
Anything's possible in the House of Q.