Swimming Without Dolphins….

Our four year old has been swimming with a floatation device we have always referred to as her dolphins.

It’s a pink vest-type apparatus with even brighter pink dolphins on the front that straps to her arms and around her body, keeps her buoyant and takes the pressure off of us when we’re poolside.

Chloe’s dolphins had become part of our swimming routine. Bathing suit, sunscreen, dolphins, towel.

Her dolphins became just as much a crutch for us as parents as for her. I wondered if having this thing wrapped around her was impeding her ability to swim but it sure made life easy when I wanted to water the surrounding ornamental grasses, knowing I could turn my back for a second and she would be floating happily a few feet away.

When we take her to swimming lessons, there are no dolphins.

She kicks on a flutter board and jumps into the arms of her instructor. She is working hard to learn how to swim unassisted and someone is always within reach.

We have been trying to encourage her to swim without her dolphins at home but like taking away a baby’s soother, she needed some convincing.

We also knew she was going to drop the dolphins when she was ready and no amount of swearing in frustration gentle coercion from our side was going to speed up the process.

Finally Saturday she said, “Mom, I’m ready to get out of the pool, I’m starting to get cold.”

“Okay, why don’t I take off your dolphins and you can swim to the edge and hop out.”

She agreed. This was a great sign.

I realize some of your kids were swimming unassisted at 6 months and doing back-handsprings at 8 months and filing their own taxes at 2 years.

This weekend, our four and a half year old daughter took her first unassisted freestyle/doggy paddle strokes to the edge of our pool.

She squealed with excitement and wanted to do it again and again and again.

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