Published on 12, July, 2020
My Son who’s seven was due to have his first swimming lesson after school today. He’s had lessons before but always weekends. This is the first time he’s gone out after school, he rarely has before. Despite me preparing him that he was going swimming after school, he got anxious and refused to go. Should we have made him go or would it just create anxiety in the future?
It sounds like this is more to do with a change of routine than not wanting to swim. I really struggle with changes to routine and my early morning and evening routines are my most important - I have to do exactly the same processes from about 7pm onwards, if my dinner is late because I had to do something else first, that would be very difficult to deal with. Could you find another pool that does weekend lessons? If not, maybe keep talking to him about it and let him know that he can chose whether to go or not. Usually I will refuse to change my routines but if I have enough time to process that change and I have enough control over it, I sometimes manage to accept the change. I really wouldn't push it, it could cause additional anxiety and trauma for the future.
Like many others here I had mandatory swimming lessons and hated them, the cholrine in the water irritated my skin and I'd spend the rest of the evening covered in calamine lotion trying to not scratch myself raw. We were put in the "baby" pool, and being a tall child it wasn't deep enough for me. What I learned was that I swim like a brick, sports teachers are bullies and that I'm prone to contact dermatitis which has only got worse the older I've become.
Sports teachers are the very worst bullies in a school - facts