Swim lessons and more
I took Tin to swim lessons with our neighbor today at Elmwood Fitness Center. I had hoped that a friend was going to give him lessons because he’s a black man and those are the two operative descriptions – black and male – because I thought it would be good for Tin to see someone other than a white woman telling him what to do. But he hasn’t been around all summer and my neighbor was actually great – she kept the pace swift even while Tin was crying and whimpering about the whole enchilada – separating from Mommy, being held by a stranger in the big big pool.
He did remarkably well despite the tears, but when he was able to cling back to me, he was grabbing so tight he almost pulled my bathing suit off. Once again it was a lesson for Tin and a lesson for Mommy – how to let him learn and let me learn one more time not to rescue him when he doesn’t need me to.
Geez Louise – I was exhausted afterwards.