We stated our second swim session at the local park district. The first session was terrific, both kids had super nice instructors, and they had a great time.
Yesterday, my 3.5 year olds instructor old me she is nervous he is going to go under, telling me that the water looked too deep for him and that he may need to go to another class. My son can swim under water, he just needs instruction. I'm not worried about him going under, he can even tread water a little. He can stand where they are swimming, it's just deep.
So today I really watched. This instructor seemed frustrated. She just had my son and another boy. The other boy looked to be a young 4. The instructor wasn't positive at all, it was all negative, " you didn't keep your legs together..our arms need to go like this." Zero positive encouragement and then correction, just pure, " you aren't doing this right." My son did a terrific job at one point, and she said nothing! No. " that was great R, next time lets try to do X more." All the other instructors are smiling, encouraging the kids on, and this one just seems grumpy!
At one point,she asked my son to do something, and then got frustrated that he hadn't been listening to her. He is 3.5, and I don't think she got his attention before giving him instruction. I then saw her call over the manager to complain that he wasn't listening. The manager had her do some instruction for my son, and he then did it.
After class, the instructor again mentioned the whole going under water again thing. She then told me he wasn't listening. I then touched her arm and said, he is three, you have to touch him, get his attention, and he will then listen. She said she didn't know 3 year olds could be at the level he is at---it's the highest level for the under 6 crowd. I responded, "well, he just completed this level last week."
Question: I don't think this instructor knows how to be with little kids. She isn't trying to have fun, and while my son is having fun, I really don't want to hear negative comments everyday. My son is a super sweet, easy going 3 year old. He is a terrific listener, and most people think he is 4.5 not 3.5. He really is that mature, with a terrific vocabulary, use of words, etc.
If this instructor continues to be so negative with these kids, and critical, do I ask for a different instructor tomorrow?
Yes. This young woman may be a good swimmer or something, but she shouldn't be working with kids. Just tell the instructor what you've told us, and you'll be doing a whole lot of other parents a favor. This doesn't have to be complicated or a big deal.
As a former swim instructor and now mom, this does not surprise me at all. Swim instructors are often high school and college age. Its a summer job and the training is generally Red Cross certification in CPR, Red Cross Lifeguard certification, and Red Cross WSI (water safety instruction) certification. So you are not dealing w/ someone who is trained to deal with children. The truth is that the WSI only forces you to demonstrate your competency with technical swim skills (mostly at an advanced level), endurance, and water safety. 95 % of what I ended up doing with my WSI was dealing with children age 2-5 level 1-3. The WSI offered me almost nothing to deal with this skill level and age. There is nothing practical taught in how to actually handle young children. I learned these skills by first being the assistant to the teacher and was lucky enough to love and enjoy children. After one or two sessions, i had the hang of it. So sounds like you got a dud. Or someone who is supper fresh behind the ears and just needs to work under someone else a bit more. Talk with her supervisor and tell them you'd like a different teacher, or at a minimum, to have this teacher working in the water with a more experienced teacher until she gets the hang of it. That you want someone that encourages and tries to make it fun- One that understands children a little better and can speak with a minim of negative reinforcement. Bottom line, your instructor is inexperienced with children and you have every right to bring this to her supervisor's attention so they can help her.
If this is the beginning of the season for this pool, there are lots of kinks to work out with instructors. Supervisors don't always know what they have to work with. So you are being more than helpful to point out which instructors are still in need of direct supervision.
(FYI, this is precisely why I avoid large community pool swim programs and opt for smaller pool settings with small class sizes and experienced teachers)
I think you should speak with the manager about your concerns. You paid money for the lessons and I would assume they would welcome feedback in order to keep your business, as long as your feedback and expectations are reasonable. The manager can tell you whether your requests are reasonable or if your child should be in a different class. The manager may have some good suggestions. For instance, when my 4 year old was having a hard time with swim class, the manager of our rec center suggested moving her to a class that was held in the indoor pool which was warmer, which was a great suggestion.
I have had similar experiences when enrolling my kids in basketball and wish I would have gone to the manager then. The management should be aware of parent's concerns and make reasonable changes to make the program run better.
Evidently this person is still learning. They did what they were supposed to do, they asked their boss for help when they didn't know what to do. I'd say your child will learn what they need to learn no matter who is teaching them. They still have to do the skills needed for their class. If they don't do them they take this level again...
I have to really agree with Jane. She's more than likely a college student taking a summer job. She might not have much experience working with little kids.
I love how you touched her arm, got her attention and let her know that she might need to do the same. She's not likely to forget that any time soon.
Keep in mind that she wasn't really negative. She wasn't encouraging either, but she wasn't highly critical. It sounds like she would point out something he did correctly and then follow up with something he could improve on. I agree that the little ones respond best to teachers who get excited and cheer and say, "Good job!" Hopefully that will come with time and experience.
If you want to say anything to the manager, you could mention that she seems a little out of her element. She doesn't seem to have a lot of experience working with little ones and could use a few tips. I wouldn't make a big deal about it, as she might really have the potential to be a great instructor.
Give her some time. Working with little ones in the pool is a bit scary. She's probably more than a little overwhelmed. If she mentions her fear of him going under again, remind her that the lifeguards are keeping an eye on him and all the kids and she needn't worry about that. Encourage her to relax and try to have fun with them. Give her a chance to show you what she can do.
Definitely go to the manager with your concerns, and then give the instructor another chance to fix it. For gymnastics we hire all sorts of teen gymnasts to be instructors and they start out as assistants. Usually they need lots of training on how to work with kids, how to be positive, etc. Sometimes if we are super full they may take on a group on their own and then once in a while we get complaints. Usually we just take the complaints to the instructor in a nice way and help them improve.
You'll be doing everyone a favor by speaking up. Just say it nicely, and also be encouraging to the instructor. If need be, give your son some extra praise at the end of class like "I saw you do XYZ and you did a wonderful job!"
Good luck!
I wouldn't directly ask for another instructor, but I would take my concerns to the manager. It sounds like she needs additional training on how to handle little kids to make it fun.
And, if you decide to do another session after this one, put in writing on the request form that your child have the instructor that he had for the 1st session. Managers will usually accomodate requests before a session starts, but it might be difficult to switch things around now that the groups are established.
J., please speak to the manager. Explain what is going on. If you don't, this swim place is going to lose customers. Her children aren't going to enjoy learning to swim and this swim instructor will only get more frustrated and deal with children worse. She doesn't know how to teach kids.
Just because someone's profession is "teacher" of something or other doesn't mean that she or he should have a pass for doing a bad job. If we hire someone to do work in our home and they don't know what they're doing, are we supposed to just call another company to fix it? No. We need to call the company and complain. Then they can teach their workers better. This is NO different. You have every right to talk to the manager and ask for another teacher, AND ask for this instructor to have some training for working with kids.
That's awesome! You give more detail and concern over your child's swim teacher than most would for a classroom teacher! You are quite on top of things and want the best for your son.
That being said, all our park district teachers have been so so. Some grumpy. Some no idea how to work with kids. They are in high school, maybe some in college? They have 2-3 kids that are little, and they turn their back. I saw one 3-year-old go under at least 3 times that session...the mom would rush to the pool side each time. (That was bad; they seriously should not turn their back on the kids). But generally the teachers are not great. My kids are learning to swim, though. The swim schools are too much money, though the warm water sounds nice!
Just change teachers. No need to whine to management.
I would take her up on her initial offer to put your son in another class, not for her reasons, but your own. Then talk to the manager about what you experienced. Not everyone is cut out to work with young kids.
