Dive In...Splash Around

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Thursday, November 05, 2009
by Jeannie Fleming-Gifford

The weather here in the northeast has turned gray and cold all too quickly. Although I know I could bundle up and still enjoy the great outdoors, I have to admit, I look more and more for indoor options. Pulling out the rec catalogs today to begin my search of extracurriculars to engage in this fall, it brought me back to the why and when we enroll our infants and toddlers into community programs.

My first experience truly helped me understand the meaning of "baby steps."

Like small steps, parenthood slows you down. It makes you look at things a bit differently. It makes you enjoy the small stuff again.

The first class we ever took was when "Bean" was 5 months old (I'll be the first to admit that I am a crazy mommy). The class was part "movement" (I say "movement" because at that point, "Bean" was pretty much a pumpkin) and half "swim" (again, let's use the term loosely).

I remember wading into the water with my "Bean." I was excited. She was timid about this new experience. That night, we walked back and forth in the pool, barely dangling her feet into the water. I saw other kiddos happily splashing and being submerged into the warm waters.  I kept perspective realizing that the goal wasn't for "Bean" to learn how to swim that day.

Fast forward 6 months. We entered the pool once again. I excited, she again, a bit timid. However, within minutes, the bulb was on and you could see she had remembered her first experiences. She splashed, kicked and squealed. As the class ended, out came the beach balls. These balls terrified her during those first classes. Now, she stretched her hands out towards them and kicked wildly when one came her way.

She was joyous. She had grown. It was a great reminder of the baby steps she had taken.

Have you enrolled your child into their first program?

What "steps" has your child taken as a result of a structured class/organized activity?

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