Taking the Plunge

I have written a bit before about L’s resistance to taking classes or lessons of any kind without me right there next to him. I had always hoped he would overcome this fear on his own, but at age 6 1/2, it is clear that we need to give him a little help.

Tomorrow he is going for a swim lesson. This is the first time - EVER - that I will drop him off with an instructor and leave him. We did try a gymnastics class when he was three, but the instructor called me back to get him after about 10 minutes because he was lying on the floor crying. I didn’t push him to continue and - hindsight being 20/20 - I really should have.

So tomorrow is the big day. He keeps telling me he’s not going, but he doesn’t seem all that serious about the resistance. I believe he wants to go, but he simply doesn’t know how to handle his anxiety, so he says he won’t go. I’m optimistic that he will be cooperative and actually have fun once we’re over the initial hump of getting him into the lesson.

It’s a big step for my little man. And a big step for me. But it’s a step we both need to take.