Yet another issue

July 1, 2006

My kids started swimming lessons today. I think the whole experience took a good 5 years off my life. Oh, they did great and had a blast, but there sat their stress-case mother on the side of the pool, biting her nails and teetering on the verge of cardiac arrest. It was one of the most draining 30 minutes of my life. And by the way, I don’t care how experienced those swimming instructors are, they just don’t pay enough attention as far as I’m concerned.

I am fully aware that something is desperately wrong with me. The fact that I cannot, under any circumstances, CHILL OUT, is a major problem. I wish I could tell you it’s something I’m “working on” but that would just be a bold-faced lie. I’m not “working on it” because I DON’T KNOW HOW to “work on it.” I try the self-talk approach (”Just relax Amy, everything’s fine. They’re fine. See? They’re fine. Really. Just fine.”) but it doesn’t seem to work. I just flat out ignore me.

I thought about handing over swimming lesson duty to my husband but I don’t think that’d work either because then I’d just worry that no one was worrying enough.

So, before me lies my destiny for the next 8 weeks: journey to the brink of death and back, all because I just can’t PULL MYSELF TOGETHER. What happens when they start driving? Maybe I should just check myself into that asylum now and make it easier on all of us.

Category: Life, Parenting

Comments

12 Responses to “Yet another issue”

  1. Traci
    July 2nd, 2006 @ 11:46 am

    Amy,
    I completely understand how you feel. My kids are good swimmers now (ages 9 and 12) but my friends think I’m weird because I won’t allow them to go swimming without me being there. In my opinion, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Things happen. We were in Hawaii earlier this year and I felt panicked trying to keep up with my two kids in the big, open ocean….but they did great. In fact, they swim better than I do!
    You’ll make it through swimming lessons just fine. No asylum needed : )

  2. MInTheGap
    July 2nd, 2006 @ 10:50 pm

    I don’t know how I’m going to deal with my kids when they want to swim. One seems more like me while the other will try anything. I never learned because of an experience when my mother took me to swim lessons. Fortunately my wife likes to swim, so she’ll be able to help them. If they get it water I can’t stand in…

  3. Gette
    July 4th, 2006 @ 5:38 pm

    Swimming doesn’t bother me like that, but there are things that do. It’s a parental foible, I guess.

  4. joannmski
    July 5th, 2006 @ 12:19 pm

    We worked out a killer deal with one of our parishioners - she used to teach swimming. Now she comes over and teaches my kids to swim in private lessons, in exchange for me watching her baby. A win win all around. I would be very nervous if they were in a group swim session too. Have you ever tried to keep a group of little kids safe in the pool by yourself? Pretty tough.

  5. Pastor Walter Snyder
    July 8th, 2006 @ 3:41 am

    I can’t wait until Monday, when our 5 y/o will start lessons. When I was younger, I swam almost year ’round at the Pittsburg, KS YMCA and was involved in teaching the younguns by the time I was 12. However, like driving, swimming may be one of those things best learned from someone without a familial connection.

  6. TK
    July 10th, 2006 @ 12:24 pm

    For what it is worth, I come from a long line of overreactors and worries. Maybe YOU can’t say you are “working on it”, but God can. He is well aware of your personality and whatever issues you might have. He has already ordered your world to deal with it. My pastor preached a great sermon on that yesterday (related to Jesus calming the storm while they all were in the boat and then chastising them for not having faith even while He was right there in the boat with them), but I left the notes at home. I wanted to do a post on the topice today, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

    Anyway, your reactions should get better as they get older, but keep in mind that your children’s own peace of mind about their lives flows from you.

  7. Kevin Stilley
    July 11th, 2006 @ 12:00 am

    This is why God create valium. Blessings, and peace. Kevin

  8. Mom Nancy
    July 12th, 2006 @ 9:53 am

    My four-year-old (nicknamed the FISH) took his first lessons this summer and on the first day it was his first time NOT in a floatie bathing suit and I KNEW that lifeguard was not watching my son as he worked his way down the stairs and straight to his DEATH! Of course, he’s fine and LOVES swimming. He has a Mom, however, who as much as she enjoys the pool, doesn’t like UNDERWATER so much and he LOVES it. Surfaces long enough (read less than a second) to take a new breath and he’s gone. He was adopted at 8 weeks and my neighbor insists we found him washed up on a beach and his birth-father must be King Neptune. He won’t stay above water in the neighbor’s wading pool!

  9. Crystal
    July 13th, 2006 @ 8:57 am

    I can completely understand how you feel. I, too, am a constant worrier. I keep trying the “self-talk” approach but am not very succesful either. Luckily my daughter is only 13 months so there is only so much I have to deal with.
    Anyway, I have found that sometimes I just have to close my eyes and take a deep breath. It rarely works the way I want it to, but every little bit helps. My husband thinks I am crazy (he the completely laid-back, not a care in the world type), but he listens when I need to talk about it and tries to curb any urges to do something I find crazy with our daughter!
    Just take a deep breathe and try to relax. I know it’s easier said than done, but every little bit helps.
    ~Crystal

  10. Leah Mom
    July 15th, 2006 @ 1:14 pm

    With three grown children I can attest to all those stages of worry. Thankfully, learning to swim and learning to drive are not at the same time. We have moved on to new worries such as cancer of our son. We continue to trust in God, but it is hard not to worry.

  11. Leah Mom
    July 15th, 2006 @ 1:16 pm

    Forgot to give my website.

  12. Kathryn
    August 1st, 2006 @ 10:18 pm

    Leah, I hope you will rest in the promises of God for your son. Please study all the healing scriptures in the Word. Thank you for letting us know. Do you listen to Believers Voice of Victory, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland? I believe they can help. Jesus came to give us the abundant life, not worry and fear. God sees worry and fear as the enemy of your soul. That spirit of fear is the devil coming against you. Resist worry and fear the same way Jesus resisted temptation in the wilderness, by “quoting” your covenant. I have learned to quote Psalms 46:1 when fear comes against me. It works.

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