Swimming Lessons

Next month my 5 year old daughter will being another round of swimming lessons.  It's been a rough go with her and swimming lessons.  We started her on parent/child lessons right after she turned 3.  She freaked out about getting into the water and for most of the 6 week session she clung to me tighter than velcro.  She's past the stage of parent-child lessons and is getting in the pool by herself.  She's getting better, but is still very tentative at times.  She's been in the same instructional level class for several sessions now.  I'm really hoping she moves to the next level soon.  The kids in her current level are about 2 full years younger than she is.

None of this is really a surprise to me.  She takes after her Daddy in too many ways.  I was very tentative starting out with swimming lessons and it took me quite awhile to pass beyond the first level.  Apparently she's following in my footsteps!  If only I could get her to understand that swimming lessons are for her benefit.  Learning to swim will make the swimming pool much more enjoyable.  

My 2 year old daughter, on the other hand, has no issues with water.  She'll jump right in,  no questions asked!  She's ready to move beyond the parent-child level into the same level as my 5 year old, except that she still has stranger anxiety and isn't quite ready to handle a lesson with the instructor minus Mommy and Daddy.