Word of the Day

Cignature: Burn mark left by a cigarette

Swimming Lessons

When we moved first moved to Arizona, HTP and I decided that it would be really nice to have a swimming pool at our new house. I was a bit nervous about it at first. I had a baby daughter who was only 2 years old and I was pregnant with a second child. I had nightmares about finding one of my children floating in the pool some day. I don't care how closely you watch your children, accidents do happen. I finally agreed to have a pool constructed but only if we fenced it in with a truly child-guard fence. This was before Arizona passed a law which requires child-guard fences for your pool. I picked out a wrought-iron fence with a self-closing and latching gate. The fence had spikes on both the top and the bottom. The fence guy warned me that one of my child might hurt herself on these spikes if she tried to crawl over or under the fence. I told him that I'd rather she scratch herself on the pool fence then drown in the pool. My daughter...none of my kids...ever scratched themselves on that fence. They didn't drown either. Our pool and our pool fence were completed during the winter months. My baby was born in February. I now had two baby daughters.

HTP and I both know how to swim. HTP was an Eagle Scout. I swim, but I'm not fond of it but I do know how to swim. It was a family requirement if you wanted to go out fishing on the dock without a bulky orange life vest. That's another story. Anyway, I don't really like to swim but I know how. Despite the child-guard fence that surrounded our new pool, I was still having nightmares about pool accidents. I did some research. By July, my two daughters were 6 months old and 3 years old. That's awfully young for swim lessons but I found someone who promised that she could teach the youngest child to swim. Swim lessons! Yes!

I drove my two daughters to their first lesson. That first lesson wasn't so bad. Really. In no time at all my daughters were in the pool. It was the second lesson, and the third lesson, and the fourth lesson, that were a bit tough. With my oldest daughter. My youngest daughter loved swimming. She learned to hold her breath really quickly and she would flip over onto her back and float. After the third lesson, she didn't even scream anymore. She would float there smiling contentedly. I would have preferred that she continued to scream because in case of accidents, it would be nice to have some sort of alarm like a child screaming. But that's OK. I'd just have to keep a close eye on her. Swim lessons are not a guarantee against drowning but any little bit to give you an edge.

My oldest daughter, age 3, was a horror. I love her dearly, but she was a horror! You'd think she was possessed. After that first lesson, these daily trips to lessons, were a nightmare. I've never seen so much drama in my whole life. She screamed, she kicked, she scratched, she grabbed onto anything that would prevent her from actually entering water. She'd grab onto the steering wheel so I had a hard time even getting her out of the car! My other daughter would watch this all in wonder. Thankfully, she never adopted these horror fits. Ahhhh!!!! Finally, finally, I would manage to drag her kicking and screaming to her lessons. The teacher even recommended that I go sit out in the car...just in case I was the type of mother who was the actual cause of all this drama. I wasn't but I went and sat in the car anyway. She still screamed and kicked and scratched. She wasn't learning anything. I finally ended up using a parent's last option. Bribery. This is something I rarely used when my children was growing up. I suppose this is why it was so effective every time I did use it.

Bribery. So, after another nightmare lesson, I asked my daughter if she would like an ice cream cone. There was a place that sold ice cream cones for a nickel. Thrifty Drug Store. They don't exist anymore but their ice cream does. I love it. You can buy it at the Water 'N Ice stores. I still go in for the occasional ice cream cone. They cost more but...what the heck. Back to my story, of course she wanted an ice cream cone. After getting our cones, my six month old shared mine, we stood out in the parking lot by the car. It was hot outside and I didn't want melted ice cream drips all over the car. After ice cream cones, we all piled back into the car and headed for home. As we drove home, I asked my daughter if she liked her cone. She did. Very much. I asked her if she would like a cone after the next day's swim class. Yes! Oh, yes! She would. I told her that I'd buy her a cone tomorrow if she didn't "fuss" when it came to swim lessons the next day. She thought about it. She agreed. She promised. The next day we got to swim lessons and she just started to fuss before I reminded her about the promised ice cream cone...and her promise. She quieted immediately. Bravely she walked over to the swim pool and she listened and she had her swim lessons. Every lesson for the rest of that summer, we stopped and got an ice cream cone after lessons. And you know what? She learned how to swim. There were no more scenes.

Now I told you all that because I got a wonderful letter from this same daughter yesterday. You probably all know that she's a recruit, training to become a Marine at Parris Island. Last week they all trained and tested for the combat swim qualification. My daughter told me that she passed her swim qual. She not only passed the Combat Water Survival, Fourth Class (CWS4) she needed in order to become an honest to goodness Marine, she also passed CWS3 and then on to CWS2. Now I have to admit that I would have a hard time passing CWS4. It's very doubtful that I'd pass CWS3 and I know that I wouldn't be able to handle CWS2. There's no way that I would be able to:

(1) Wearing full combat gear minus pack, using one or a combination of survival strokes, travel 50m in deep water, with weapon slung across back (muzzle down).
(2) Wearing full combat gear, perform 25m collar-tow on wounded "victim", dressed identically, while simultaneously towing two packs. Weapons will be slung across the back (muzzle down). Victim will hold on to the two packs and will not assist in propulsion.

Actually, I think she would have passed CWS1, if it had been offered. It wasn't. At least it hadn't been offered as of the letter I received. What a long way she's come from that day when I had to bribe her to go to her swimming lessons without causing a major scene. You've come a long way Baby! I owe her an ice cream cone. Lots of them.

Murphyism of the Day

The Law of the Letter

The best way to inspire fresh thoughts is to seal the letter in its envelope.