This is my 9th year teaching swimming lessons. Honestly... I LOVE THIS JOB. I almost feel guilty charging people, because I enjoy it so much. There is nothing like the feeling of helping a child to get across the pool by themselves for the first time. Their smiles, their yells of "look what I did, mom!" their excitement as we try new fun activities... {sigh} I just love it! I think the only thing better than this will be to teach my own little girl to swim. Right now we are just doing lots of splashing in the bathtub (which is actually an important precursor to swimming - kids need to learn to enjoy water splashing in their faces).
Brief history, for those who are interested: once-upon-a-time, I lived in Spokane in a beautiful home with a big pool in the backyard. Teaching swimming lessons was a family tradition, beginning with my brother Steve. My sister Lindsay was the first to get it going in our pool in Spokane. My brother Brady was her assistant, and I was recruited to help pass out flyers around the neighborhood to advertise. I dont remember if they paid me or not... they probably didnt. I was exploited. Even when Lindsay moved away and I became Bradys assistant, he didnt pay me much and I always had to take the pool cover off and do all the cleaning. So of course, when Brady moved out and Meredith became MY assistant, I didnt pay her well and made her do the grunt work. By this time, there was no need to pass out flyers. Word of mouth advertising kept me in the pool 6 or 7 hours a day - which is EXHAUSTING. Constantly talking, holding kids up, enduring the sun, and having my mind go 90 miles a minute... whew. But I loved it, and made more money than any of my friends in their summer jobs. I also got really tan, bleached hair, had no commute, and was pretty in-shape from all that swimming.
This continued til age 20 when I got married and spent my first summer away from home. My parents had to field the phone calls that still came in, asking if we would be having swim lessons.
Last summer, I had an epiphany: "wait a minute... Brian and I live in an HOA with a pool....I should teach swim lessons!" So I put an ad on Craigslist, and started scheduling private lessons. It was amazing to me that all my years of teaching just came back so instantly. I guess that should be expected... I mean, after saying "chicken, airplane, soldier" thousands of times, you really cant forget it. I also went to the Red Cross and got Child/Infant CPR and First Aid certified again. I thought about re-doing my Lifeguard and WSI certification...but I really detest their teaching methods. Pretty arrogant of me, I know. I like mine better- they actually work.
So now you will find me every Saturday morning/afternoon in the Westbridge pool with adorable little kids in the water. Youll find Brian at home, having some great QT with Brianna.
