6 Things I've Learnes as a Swim Parent
6 Things I've Learnes as a Swim Parent
My kids started swimming with our club team when they were five and seven years old. Looking back, I am not the same swim parent that I was back then—and thank goodness for that! We began our swim adventure in a “mommy and me” class when the kids were infants. Our main concern was water safety because we live in an area with lots of backyard pools. After exposing them to a variety of sports and activities, both chose swimming.
Here are six things I’ve learned from being a swim parent for 15 years:
One
It’s easy to get caught up in your swimmer’s times.
But, it’s not healthy to focus on times. When our son was young, we talked about the next level of times in the swim guide constantly. At a meet, he had a great swim and dropped time, but he missed the goal time we had set and felt like a failure. This was so wrong on our part on so many levels! Most importantly, we learned to never set goals for our kids! It’s their sport, not ours.
