I think it’s not just realizing that it’s hard. It’s realizing that it is potentially hard in a lot of different ways.
I recently learned how to swim after many failed attempts. I’m not any good, but I can do it, and the primary problem was that I was (am) afraid of the water rather than a lack of technique, and it was very frustrating because the wonderful woman teaching me could wrap her head around what it was that I found to be hard; she assumed at first I didn’t know how, then when it was clear that I did know how she did work on my fears with me but she still basically tried repeatedly to get me to shut up and swim already.
I like teaching adult lessons because adults can, and often do, ignore their fears and “shut up and swim already”. At which point they realize they aren’t going to die, and the fears tend to diminish with time and practice. Do you find that’s happening with you? If it isn’t yet, it will. I’ve never had a student who didn’t get used to the water eventually.
Not to imply that adults’ fears are worth less consideration than childrens’ fears. Adults learning to swim for the first time can be a lot MORE afraid, especially if they’ve had bad experiences with water, but they can be incredibly self-motivated to overcome these fears, whereas three year olds...just aren’t.
I had problems from worrying to much constantly when I tried to get decent at swimming recently. I think I might have taken lessons for a year over a decade ago, but I forgot almost everything I learned so I was eventually only able to swim by just flailing around inefficiently in a way that does not resemble any stroke. A few months ago, I decided that I actually wanted to be able to swim quickly, dive, and tread water as long as necessary without exhausting myself. So I went to a pool every week after studying a guide, and spent a few hours drilling the movements until I no longer felt on the verge of drowning constantly. I learned more slowly when someone was teaching me because it made every failure feel worse, but when I was motivated to improve and willing to look like an idiot in the process it went quite quickly. The more I assume that I should already be good at something, the worse I am as a student, which is something I really need to fix.
The more I assume that I should already be good at something, the worse I am as a student, which is something I really need to fix.
I can understand that. Don’t know how much it’s true of me. It is interesting that you learned more slowly with a teacher because you felt your failures more strongly. I’ve never experienced that but I can see why someone might.
It does seem like there’s an age effect. None of my little cousins have ever showed fear of water, and I suspect this is because they’ve been in the water before they knew that it could be scary- they knew how to swim before they were physically strong enough to keep their head out of the water.
Dogs show the same effect- dogs that grow up never having swam seem to always dislike water, and dogs that were thrown in the water as puppies seem to love it and not start out scared.
Exactly...which is why I hate it when parents wait until their kids are school-age and then sign them up for group swimming lessons when they’ve never set foot in a pool. It’s a nightmare waiting to happen, and by the time I get them, they’ve usually been through enough classes with lazy or just plain incompetent instructors that they’re really scared, and set in their beliefs that they can’t swim. We offer parent-and-tot swimming lessons starting at age 3 months; I just wish more parents took advantage of it. Or you could do this program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL7XOo_LyWU
I was forced to do school-age swimming lessons, which pissed me off, since I could totally swim already.
Anyway, do you have any tricks to getting them over the fear (other than the obvious and marginally effective ‘encourage them to get in the water and remind them that they arent going to die’)?
The best trick I’ve found is to get kids to try things that, to them, seem scary and impossible, but which I know that no one can actually fail at. Example: stand on the side of the deep end with them, jump in holding their hand, and push them to the surface as soon as my feet hit the bottom. They’re not underwater long enough to panic, and then I’m holding them up in the deep end, and I can praise them warmly for jumping into the deep end...and even if they didn’t jump entirely voluntarily, they can’t exactly say ‘no I didn’t jump’.
I think it’s not just realizing that it’s hard. It’s realizing that it is potentially hard in a lot of different ways.
I recently learned how to swim after many failed attempts. I’m not any good, but I can do it, and the primary problem was that I was (am) afraid of the water rather than a lack of technique, and it was very frustrating because the wonderful woman teaching me could wrap her head around what it was that I found to be hard; she assumed at first I didn’t know how, then when it was clear that I did know how she did work on my fears with me but she still basically tried repeatedly to get me to shut up and swim already.
I like teaching adult lessons because adults can, and often do, ignore their fears and “shut up and swim already”. At which point they realize they aren’t going to die, and the fears tend to diminish with time and practice. Do you find that’s happening with you? If it isn’t yet, it will. I’ve never had a student who didn’t get used to the water eventually.
Not to imply that adults’ fears are worth less consideration than childrens’ fears. Adults learning to swim for the first time can be a lot MORE afraid, especially if they’ve had bad experiences with water, but they can be incredibly self-motivated to overcome these fears, whereas three year olds...just aren’t.
I had problems from worrying to much constantly when I tried to get decent at swimming recently. I think I might have taken lessons for a year over a decade ago, but I forgot almost everything I learned so I was eventually only able to swim by just flailing around inefficiently in a way that does not resemble any stroke. A few months ago, I decided that I actually wanted to be able to swim quickly, dive, and tread water as long as necessary without exhausting myself. So I went to a pool every week after studying a guide, and spent a few hours drilling the movements until I no longer felt on the verge of drowning constantly. I learned more slowly when someone was teaching me because it made every failure feel worse, but when I was motivated to improve and willing to look like an idiot in the process it went quite quickly. The more I assume that I should already be good at something, the worse I am as a student, which is something I really need to fix.
I can understand that. Don’t know how much it’s true of me. It is interesting that you learned more slowly with a teacher because you felt your failures more strongly. I’ve never experienced that but I can see why someone might.
It does seem like there’s an age effect. None of my little cousins have ever showed fear of water, and I suspect this is because they’ve been in the water before they knew that it could be scary- they knew how to swim before they were physically strong enough to keep their head out of the water.
Dogs show the same effect- dogs that grow up never having swam seem to always dislike water, and dogs that were thrown in the water as puppies seem to love it and not start out scared.
Exactly...which is why I hate it when parents wait until their kids are school-age and then sign them up for group swimming lessons when they’ve never set foot in a pool. It’s a nightmare waiting to happen, and by the time I get them, they’ve usually been through enough classes with lazy or just plain incompetent instructors that they’re really scared, and set in their beliefs that they can’t swim. We offer parent-and-tot swimming lessons starting at age 3 months; I just wish more parents took advantage of it. Or you could do this program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL7XOo_LyWU
I was forced to do school-age swimming lessons, which pissed me off, since I could totally swim already.
Anyway, do you have any tricks to getting them over the fear (other than the obvious and marginally effective ‘encourage them to get in the water and remind them that they arent going to die’)?
The best trick I’ve found is to get kids to try things that, to them, seem scary and impossible, but which I know that no one can actually fail at. Example: stand on the side of the deep end with them, jump in holding their hand, and push them to the surface as soon as my feet hit the bottom. They’re not underwater long enough to panic, and then I’m holding them up in the deep end, and I can praise them warmly for jumping into the deep end...and even if they didn’t jump entirely voluntarily, they can’t exactly say ‘no I didn’t jump’.