The Deep End trick really works

At the beginning of the summer, Grafton declared to us that he was going to take on the challenge of learning to swim. As the summer progressed we continued to encourage him to try, and did our best to show him how it's done. But he didn't seem all the motivated and often gave up in the pool before making much progress. We didn't want to push him too hard, knowing he'd make the effort once he was ready (this has always been Grafton's way).

A few weeks ago, and only a few days before his first day of swim lesson in Amherst, we were able to push him to give it another shot. In the shallow end of the pool he was able to take a stroke or two without his feet falling to the floor. Encouraged by this improvement, Mom suggested to Dad that he take Grafton slightly into the deep end to see if he really could keep his body afloat without touching his feet down. Holding his underarms, Dad pulled him out past the shallow end and let go. Grafton splashed and struggled, but kept his body afloat and moving forward--he was truly swimming! All of us were thrilled and Grafton was particularly proud of himself.

Over the next two weeks, Grafton made great strides in the water under professional instruction. In each of his first two classes he was promoted to the next more advanced class, reaching the Duckling level. He became comfortable with bobs and underwater blastoffs (a bob and jump). Most impressively, he became comfortable jumping into the pool and then swimming back to the wall, all under his own power and flotation. Seeing this happen, Mom and Dad shared a great sense of relief, knowing that his ability to survive a slip into the deep end of our pool would no longer  destined to be tragic.

A week later, we hosted a pool party for Grafton and his friends to celebrate the end of summer and the arrival of Kindergarten. A number of his friends were already capable swimmers.  They made heavy use of the diving board, splashing down into the deep end and then swimming to edge, ready for to go again. Grafton is not one to be left behind by his friends' activities. And even though we had never yet let him swim in the deep end of the pool on his own (without flotation assistance), before we even knew it he was jumping off that diving board, splashing down, and swimming right back over to the edge without fear or struggle [1]. While we knew he could do this, Mom and Dad weren't prepared to see him doing it in the deep end of the pool. But we were very glad to see it, and knew we could finally relax (a little more!) when Grafton is in the pool area with us.

[1] We did have a lifeguard on duty, otherwise we would have been watching him like a hawk!