Stickability

At age 2 our boys learned to swim.

At age 3 however….

I was so proud of both our sons at age 2 – swimming like fish.

We had a great time in the pool.

Then, summer was over, fall, winter and spring passed, and it was time for more summer fun.

Imagine my surprise when I took them to the pool, equipped with there sporty water wings, and they clung to me like leeches – petrified that they were going to sink.

What?

Oh!

No “stickability”.

They are only 3, the lessons of the previous year had not yet been infused into their muscle memory.

Dang!  All that money for swimming lessons and they had forgotten all they had learned.

It hit me that the Polynesians probably took their children to the ocean every day, regardless of the season, and that is why the lessons “took”.

After an afternoon of swinging them around that letting them venture a few inches from me in the water, things got a little better.

Eventually, before the season was over, they were gleefully paddling around, trusting that their water wings would keep them from sinking to the bottom.

Having other children in the pool with water wings helped.

I forget how old they were when they graduated from water wings and stickability kicked in.

It was nice when they were no longer leeches, desperately clinging to me.