Mommy and Me

The ill-designed "Mommy and Me" class is a misnomer. It really shouldn't be called "Mommy and Me," as if it was all about the kid. Seriously.

I only signed up for the sub-three-year-old Parent and Me swimming lesson because I knew it would be impossible to keep Naomi out of the pool for the ten days of Hope's Level Three lessons. For two weeks at 5:05 pm at the newly remodeled city pool all three of us are there "taking" lessons.

Hope is fine. She loves meeting the other kids in her class and trying new things like swimming backwards. She's already fallen in love with the twenty-something girls who are the instructors.

On the far other side of the pool, in the 2 and a half foot deep kiddie area, Naomi and I struggle for thirty minutes. Her screams can be heard far above the din of the splashing and yells of about 50 or so kids taking various classes at the same time.

The class begins and as if on cue, she begins to wail. She doesn't want to kick toward the floating duckie (its so far beneath her station); she doesn't want to reach with "big arms" toward the wall to practice strokes, and she DOES NOT want to blow bubbles (I mean, who would want to submerge their face into the water hundreds of sweaty sunscreened kids have shared all day - there's a film, you know).

She has fun for about 90 seconds near the end when she gets to jump into my arms.

So the class wasn't about my two-year-old at all. She didn't learn any water skills she didn't already know. The Parent and Me class turned out to be all about me: apologies for the screaming; guilt over letting her sit on the stairs and play with the diving rings; frequent attempts to grab her wiggly wet body around the middle and force her to participate in the class activity. By the time the class ends, I'm injured (angry kicks to my chest in the struggles), exhasuted (who wouldn't be), and a push-over (McDonalds anyone?). It is really all about me.

The class should never be classified as "Mommy and Me", but perhaps "Me and my Slippery, Angry Toddler Who Won't Obey."

I have 9 more days of this. Pray for me.