Yesterday Shanna told me she wants to no longer go to swim classes at the place we are at right now. The teacher is too bossy and forceful. He wants her to learn the skills quickly. She wants to play. He keeps telling her she “has” to do things. She said, “I told him, ‘Actually I don’t have to’ and then I went back to the step.”

That’s my girl.

I told her that she is right and wrong. She looked startled. I told her that he is correct that if she wants to get good at swimming she will eventually have to learn the things he is showing her–but she is right that she doesn’t have to do it right now today. I said that a better response might be, “Thank you for trying to teach me but I’m not ready to do that today.”

She told me I will have to repeat that wording a few times so she can learn it. My heart exploded with joy.

We are going to go back to the other swim school place in town. They are more relaxed and mellow. Dude, it’s called “Happy Fish”. The other place is a Swim Academy. We only switched because of a Groupon.

It’s neat learning how this goes.