The burning cauldron of hellfire that is...
The YWCA pool.
Today, my six year old daughter started her fourth year of swimming lessons. She was to be an Octopus this year, up from last year's Seahorse. Not a problem, right? I mean, we've done this before. Several times. We've all been looking forward to swimming lessons because they're fun, and kind of a summer tradition.
I should have known things would go wrong when I saw all the "big kids" there. Kids between 9 and 10 years old, maybe older. The teacher verified my daughter's name, though, so I knew we were in the place where we were supposed to be.
The first thing the teacher has these kids do is swim the entire length of the pool, doing the breast stroke. Mind you, at the end of last year's classes, they were just learning to dive, for Christ's sake. They had just learned the hand motions and head turning that go along with the breast stroke. Jerica (that's my kid) went to swim across for her turn, and started floundering about 5 feet away from the wall. The bad thing is, they started on the DEEP end of the pool, where nobody can touch. At one point, halfway down the length of the pool, I yelled at the teacher to GET HER, considering she had gone underwater and the teacher wasn't helping her regain her, um...swimmingness.
Jerica did make it to the other side. In one piece, and not drowned. Yet, I didn't feel good about it at all. Then, the kids all had to swim back. They're all about in comas because this is WAYYYYYYY advanced for most of them. There were eight kids in the class, and one actually ended up crying after the first length. Jerica was having trouble, and so was a third kid. By this point, I'm pissed. My husband and I agree that this class is too advanced for her. We walk down to the other end of the pool and ask Jerica if she wants to leave. She said yes. I felt bad later because she told me that she thought we were mad at her, because she wasn't doing very well. I explained to her that I was mad at the teacher, not her.
So...that's not even the end of my anger. There were two teachers in the whole pool. Count 'em. Two. One class had two girls in it, who were very advanced, and my daughter's class, who ended up with seven kids. One leaving, one in tears, and one panting by the side, unable to lift her arms at this point. Two teachers is NOT enough to ensure safety. While the kids were swimming the length of the pool, she was watching the kid swimming, but couldn't watch the kids still down by the wall in 10 feet deep water. I had such a bad feeling about this whole thing, we left. But first we told the teacher we were leaving. Not that it would have mattered by that point. She kind of looked baffled. I'm sure she was probably old enough to drive, but I wouldn't put the ol' teacher much older than that. I told her that I didn't feel comfortable with what they were having the kids do, and that last year they hadn't even practiced going the SHORT length of the pool, let alone flop them in the first class and make them go the whole length. Plus, I didn't feel like there were enough staff to watch everyone at the same time. Then we left. I was shaking, because I was pretty mad at this point. I mean, this is the class they TOLD us that Jerica should be in. This is the class that FOLLOWS the one she was in last year, but it was clearly way over her skill level.
We went down to the front desk and I told that lady what happened. She said she wondered from the beginning of the class if there hadn't been some mix-up, since the Octopus class usually has 2 or 3 people in it, not 8. She wondered if maybe the YWCA advanced kids too quickly. She acknowledged that Octopus is a big step up from Seahorse, but she said that the teachers should have tested all the kids in the beginning to see what they were capable of and go from there, not just start with their own agenda and expect the kids to follow it, regardless of their skill.
I also told her of the supervision issue. She said that she had seen the aquatic director leave, and she thought that was crazy, since it was the first day of classes. She thought the director should have been there. She said that 2 teachers for 9 kids was not nearly enough, especially when one could only be watching the swimmer or the standers, not both. She was very nice, this front desk lady. She ended up switching us back to seahorse class, which is fine. I'm not doing this to train Jerica for the damn Olympics, I just want her to know how to swim, and to have some fun during the summer. I felt bad for Jerica, because she thought she wasn't doing very well. I had to convince her that this class should have been for the bigger kids. I wonder what happened to the crying girl. When we left, she was still standing by her dad, not going back in the water. I wouldn't be surprised if she was a seahorse next week, too.
I may have to jump in myself. You know. Just to make sure everything is a'ight.
Today, my six year old daughter started her fourth year of swimming lessons. She was to be an Octopus this year, up from last year's Seahorse. Not a problem, right? I mean, we've done this before. Several times. We've all been looking forward to swimming lessons because they're fun, and kind of a summer tradition.
I should have known things would go wrong when I saw all the "big kids" there. Kids between 9 and 10 years old, maybe older. The teacher verified my daughter's name, though, so I knew we were in the place where we were supposed to be.
The first thing the teacher has these kids do is swim the entire length of the pool, doing the breast stroke. Mind you, at the end of last year's classes, they were just learning to dive, for Christ's sake. They had just learned the hand motions and head turning that go along with the breast stroke. Jerica (that's my kid) went to swim across for her turn, and started floundering about 5 feet away from the wall. The bad thing is, they started on the DEEP end of the pool, where nobody can touch. At one point, halfway down the length of the pool, I yelled at the teacher to GET HER, considering she had gone underwater and the teacher wasn't helping her regain her, um...swimmingness.
Jerica did make it to the other side. In one piece, and not drowned. Yet, I didn't feel good about it at all. Then, the kids all had to swim back. They're all about in comas because this is WAYYYYYYY advanced for most of them. There were eight kids in the class, and one actually ended up crying after the first length. Jerica was having trouble, and so was a third kid. By this point, I'm pissed. My husband and I agree that this class is too advanced for her. We walk down to the other end of the pool and ask Jerica if she wants to leave. She said yes. I felt bad later because she told me that she thought we were mad at her, because she wasn't doing very well. I explained to her that I was mad at the teacher, not her.
So...that's not even the end of my anger. There were two teachers in the whole pool. Count 'em. Two. One class had two girls in it, who were very advanced, and my daughter's class, who ended up with seven kids. One leaving, one in tears, and one panting by the side, unable to lift her arms at this point. Two teachers is NOT enough to ensure safety. While the kids were swimming the length of the pool, she was watching the kid swimming, but couldn't watch the kids still down by the wall in 10 feet deep water. I had such a bad feeling about this whole thing, we left. But first we told the teacher we were leaving. Not that it would have mattered by that point. She kind of looked baffled. I'm sure she was probably old enough to drive, but I wouldn't put the ol' teacher much older than that. I told her that I didn't feel comfortable with what they were having the kids do, and that last year they hadn't even practiced going the SHORT length of the pool, let alone flop them in the first class and make them go the whole length. Plus, I didn't feel like there were enough staff to watch everyone at the same time. Then we left. I was shaking, because I was pretty mad at this point. I mean, this is the class they TOLD us that Jerica should be in. This is the class that FOLLOWS the one she was in last year, but it was clearly way over her skill level.
We went down to the front desk and I told that lady what happened. She said she wondered from the beginning of the class if there hadn't been some mix-up, since the Octopus class usually has 2 or 3 people in it, not 8. She wondered if maybe the YWCA advanced kids too quickly. She acknowledged that Octopus is a big step up from Seahorse, but she said that the teachers should have tested all the kids in the beginning to see what they were capable of and go from there, not just start with their own agenda and expect the kids to follow it, regardless of their skill.
I also told her of the supervision issue. She said that she had seen the aquatic director leave, and she thought that was crazy, since it was the first day of classes. She thought the director should have been there. She said that 2 teachers for 9 kids was not nearly enough, especially when one could only be watching the swimmer or the standers, not both. She was very nice, this front desk lady. She ended up switching us back to seahorse class, which is fine. I'm not doing this to train Jerica for the damn Olympics, I just want her to know how to swim, and to have some fun during the summer. I felt bad for Jerica, because she thought she wasn't doing very well. I had to convince her that this class should have been for the bigger kids. I wonder what happened to the crying girl. When we left, she was still standing by her dad, not going back in the water. I wouldn't be surprised if she was a seahorse next week, too.
I may have to jump in myself. You know. Just to make sure everything is a'ight.
posted by Nebraska Angie @ 7:09 PM
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