Freestyle

I fell in love with swimming as a child... I was about 10 or 12 when my parents took my brother and me to a swimming club nearby, and that is how it all started. I have very fond memories of jumping into the pool, splashing all over, playing with the other kids, and before long I was actually swimming by myself in the 20 ft deep lake next door....

Over the years I have tried to swim whenever I could. Of course, it never really happened on a regular basis, till I landed up in Bangalore and found this really cute pool nearby. I have tried swimming regularly ever since, till day before, when someone came and spoilt it all.

I had just come out of the shower and was walking towards the pool when I heard a mother telling her son to pay attention to the instructor. Normally, I would not have cared, but this was someone speaking my mother tongue, which is not that common in this part of the country... I would have still ignored her, but she had taken over a side of the pool, screaming constantly at her son, trying to make sure he is his lesson seriously. I also heard her telling the instructor that he needs to scold the boy... Otherwise he wont listen....

After about fifteen minutes of non-stop instructions, the mother finally decided to get down to action herself. She got into the pool, caught her son, and tried to teach him herself. The kid, about 5-6 years old, is more interested in playing with the other kids in the pool, who were having a good time playing with a ball on the kiddie-side of the pool after their lesson. While the son kept pleading the mother to let him play, she kept pushing him to demonstrate his skills to her. She was determined to correct all his flaws in the next ten minutes.

This struggle went on for the next half an hour... The mother-son duo took over a side of the pool (much to the inconvenience of the other swimmers). Since most of their dialogue continued in my mother tongue, I had no option but to hear it all... (In my defense, its just a 25 mts. long pool. How far could I have gone?) The son was required to swim back and forth, with the mother following. She kept telling him he was not doing it right. And the poor child kept trying. Every few minutes he will ask if he could play for a bit. The mother continued to criticize his skills, telling him "You are not doing it right". While he is trying, the mother kept instructing him...
" Head down, roll your hands, blow bubbles... etc etc"

The son got bored in a while, and tried to get away as many times as he could. In the end it started getting ugly, when the mother, after trying cajoling, scolding, fear of punishment in vain was about to hit the child. Thankfully, she finally gave up, and decided to concentrate on her own swimming, and that is when I realized what the problem was. Our lady here has no idea how to swim... She needs help, ASAP!!! I guess the pool lost quite a bit of water thanks to all the thrashing....

Thanks to this show of 'good parenting', by this time I had lost all interest and pleasure of swimming, and decided to get out of there. But I couldn't take that kid and the mother out of my head.... I am no expert in child raring, but what I saw didn't seem right. It just broke my heart.... Why are parents hell bent on turning their failures into their child's success? How can they turn a pleasurable activity into a boring and unpleasant experience for a child? Have they forgotten how their own childhood used to be? I don't think this child will ever like swimming they way I liked it... Simply because I was left to my own devices... My mother was not standing on my head making sure I 'perform'. Unfortunately, 'performance' appears to be THE buzz word of the century.... Everybody wants to make their child some sort of a talented genius. My friend's 3 year old toddler is required to speak in English in kindergarten... I heard of another parent who is planning to send her 5 year old for piano lessons and horse-back riding.... Another one is sending her 2 year old to school right away.... I honestly don't understand this.... I always thought children had the freedom to do things they want to.... Looks like we are all set to turn them into responsible adults the day they are born....