The last few weeks at swimming have been tricky for Chloe. She has forgotten quite a bit over the summer and the people in her class have changed too. The first week back Chloe got halfway through the class and was struggling a bit with what she was being asked to do. She told her teachers she had a sore throat and they escorted her back to me. I knew she probably wasn't ill but I gave her the benefit of the doubt. Later, when it was clear she was fine, we chatted about it and she admitted she had felt a bit upset in the lesson.
The week after wasn't much better. Chloe started well but as soon as the instructors wanted them to move onto using their arms as well as their legs on her back, she found it difficult and didn't have the confidence to keep trying. She kept stopping to look for the instructor and relied on their help more than usual. I had a word with the teacher at the end and said I felt she had lost her confidence a bit.
This morning I was determined to give her a boost before Chloe began her lesson. We discussed trying and how lots of people do things they find difficult and manage to be much better than they think because they tried hard (she asked me what I had done recently, which was a challenge! I said doing assemblies at school ha!). She came out with, 'if you try try try, then you can can can!'
This week Chloe was like a different child. She pushed through when she was struggling and managed to do a whole length without putting her feet down, using arms and legs. This was something she hadn't managed even before the summer! The beaming smile on her face at the end of the lesson showed she was really happy with how she'd done (especially as her teacher said it was her best swim so far). I'm really glad she had such a positive experience of 'if you try try then you can can can!'
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