From the Sidelines: Hudson is a swimmer

I am a super driven person. I have a very strong inner locus of control - if it’s within my power to do something myself for myself, I’m all about it. I’m driven and I know that if I can set MY mind to it, I will accomplish it. I’m goal driven and I live for reaching milestones.

Being a parent is so different because I have to learn how to be a good bystander and to appreciate WATCHING milestones be achieved. And our biggest recent milestone is:

We enrolled Hudson in swim lessons at a pretty early age (around 18 months). We were fairly consistent with them, too (until we weren’t). In 2023, we changed to a different company for his lessons, primarily due to location. A 30 minute drive one-way for a 30-minute lesson every Saturday or every other Saturday was not super sustainable for us. Especially when we knew we wanted to also incorporate other sports into his routine.

The new company had a different format; instead of weekly or bi-weekly sessions, we booked an instructor for 30 minute lessons every day for a week (5 days). The consecutive nature allowed for things to be reiterated very rapidly.

In 2023, he had just turned three and was semi-comfortable in the water, so the lessons went well.

In 2024, I had the JOY of watching him make MAJOR leaps in his skills and confidence.

It’s different from the sidelines.

Instead of doing the work myself, I have to completely trust the instructor and encourage Hudson in his learnings. Early in the week (Monday and Tuesday), he would lament that he didn’t want to go underwater and that he didn’t want to go to lessons. I did my best to prepare him and to talk through his anxieties with him.

And watching him make the leap from “I don’t want to go under water” to watching him jump into the pool independently was a level of joy that my Pre-Hudson brain could have never imagined.