[blparent] Swimming pools at home

[Sheila Leigland]

When mark was five he was at a motel with the family and walked in to water that went over his head. My cousin's daughter jumped in and brought mark out. After that, he was terrified of water. I took him to a public pool shortly after that and stayed with him and never got more than an arm's length from him. It took a couple of hours to even get him to that point. During the next two summers we tried swimming lessons but the child was terrified and humg on the instructor for dear life. Just before his ninth birthday we took him to disneyland and stayed at a hotel with a pool and I spent time with him in the water and just played with him with no pressure or stress. Over a week time he became less frightened of the water.when we got home he would actuallly put his face in the water. My family was amazed. It wasn't until then he really learned to swim.