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| Sport helping Baby Doll out of the life jacket. |
OK, let me just admit it right off the bat. I don't love swimming lessons!
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| Chasing ducks to build our leg strength. |
I am not one of these moms that sits on the sidelines and watches every lesson, every day for two weeks. I just can't do it. It's not that I don't love our swimming teacher. She does a fabulous job! I just get bored with it all. I also hate the fact that they are 45 minutes long and so I am running a new child over so often that I can't get anything done.
Phew. End of rant.
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| Curly in the orange shirt doing the backstroke |
All that said, I know that swimming lessons are extremely important, so every summer we budget a couple hundred dollars to have our youngest children learn to swim. Each child has had to spend at least 5 summers learning the basics and becoming proficient enough in the water that I don't have to worry about them every second.
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| Curly |
This year Scout and Sport were in the same class and that helped a little. We started at 10:00 with the two of them. Then at 10:45 I dropped off Curly and picked up Scout. Sport stayed and watched Curly because he was the assistant for Baby Doll's class at 11:30. I picked up Curly when I dropped her off. Then at 12:15 I dropped off Crafty so she could assist with 2 classes and I drove Baby Doll and Sport home. That at least gave me an hour and a half to get something done before I had to pick up Crafty.
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| Sport |
Sport passed off his swimming merit badge with his class this year, so unless he wants to do lifesaving next year, he is probably finished with lessons. Crafty just loves being with the little ones, so for the last couple of years, she has been an assistant. I didn't get any pics of her, but you can see Sport doing the same job with Baby Doll. They don't get paid for assisting, but it's a wonderful service to put on their resume for scholarships.
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| Scout |
And they can't do it until they learn to swim. Just one more good reason to put up with swimming lessons.
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| Sport and Scout in the same class |
Their safety is well worth those hundreds of dollars spent each summer! I can only imagine how difficult it is to drive back and forth so much, but at least they're only for 2 weeks, right??
ReplyDeleteBetter that your children learn to swim and swimming and water safety than drowning in a tiny amount of water...I don't know if your swimming costs anything, when I lived in Portland thousands of years ago it was free..If a kid berry and bean picked or babysat during the day they got to swim with family time in the evenings, it was heaven, now everything costs an arm and a leg and most poor kids don't get anything..Read an article about most saving states Utah is right up there, Oregon where we live by a border state is the number one state for credit card debt and no savings whatsoever, must be because many don't graduate from high school or junior college or any college and many are not employed and hungry number 1 in the whole of the USA for hunger and homeless for the population.>They could learn a lot from you and your faith, the LDS church sponsors cooking and budget and recipe sessions for everyone here in Washington and you don't have to be a LDS member to attend..They even have child care and a free will offering for it, but one could also do some babysitting in exchange for the classes to learn how to budge and cook from scratch and can real food..I applaud that you can and cook and mend and teach your children how to live a healthy life and that your kids get exercise and are happy with their Mom and Dad and siblings, what a wonderful family you have~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!
ReplyDeleteI meant to say budget and cook from scratch and also put away food in freezers to save money.. I took many classes when our only was a tiny babydoll and learned to can and cook really great nutritious foods and can lots of good foods..No longer do the schools have Home Economics in the schools they have taken it away much to my disapproval..If a young lady and or young man doesn't have a Mother and Father in the home of their familia they are at a distinct disadvantage..food doesn't come from a fast food place, we never went to MacDonalds at all until we were on a big vacation visiting relatives when our only was about 14 she never ate at a fast food place, she is an excellent chef, 4H and also a best friend whose mother taught Home Economics for 35 years then they took it out of the junior high and the lady retired from teaching, she had 40 years of teaching and she had 4 children and all of her kids were terrific chefs, seamstresses and budget gurus, our only went to college with the youngest and are life long friends..Our daughter adored learning how to run a home, cook, mend, can and also learned how to prepare for life in general..I was happy she learned so much. Life is not easy when many are divorced and no Mom and or dad in the home to teach important life lessons! Congrats to you for being such an OUTSTANDING MOTHER AND YOUR HUBS A FATHER, if others could follow your example, few would end up in the juvenile justice system...just my thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI think it is awesome that you provide swimming lessons for your children. I think it is very important to know how to swim. I however don't see how you come and go and pick up and deliver children like you do and get anything done. I remember when my children took swimming lessons I used the time waiting by reading; which helped me pass the time.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the photos of the children and think it is awesome that some of them can assisting.
Blessings for all~