Swim Lessons from Hell

This has been a long week. And its because I've started swim lessons. They've been a total disaster. I've taught swim lesson for like 8 years and I've never had them go this badly.

Here's some background: I'm teaching at a private swim club and I am not employed by the club. I'm a contracted private instructor. I give them a (big) cut of what I make. I'm teaching with another girl named Paige whom I have never met and she has been handling all of the registration. We've set it up so that we will do four sessions that will have four classes a day for eight days for forty minutes. Are you following? Doesn't matter. Here's the point: Paige has been on vacation this week. Because I need the income I didn't want to wait another week to start so this week I did a short "Jump Start" session with only five, forty minute lessons in it. Also the pool manager who got me this gig has been out of town this week too.

So the problems started when I didn't have a huge enrollment for my jump start. So I condensed the 6-7 kids I had registered into two classes instead of four. Immediately I had a mom (Mom A we'll call her) email and say that her kids were at a higher level than the other kids I had put them with. I called her back and politely explained that I understood her concern but the class sizes were so small I would be able to cater to her individual swimmer's need, and to bring her kids on Monday morning, I would asses them and if I needed to make changes I would. I could tell she still wasn't pleased.

That's where everything stood as of Monday morning here's a run down of how things have gone since then.

Monday: First lesson consisted of only two girls. Mom A's kid was indeed a better swimmer than Mom B's kid (Mom B plays a later role). But there was only two kids which essentially meant each student got 20 minutes of my time. Can't beat that with a bat!

Second lesson was a disaster. I had way more kids than I was expecting. I had one sign up that day, I had another come at the wrong time. I had a total of 6 kids. Some were wearing swim diapers. Others were starting kindergarten. Kids were crying, not cooperating. Mom B's kid (one of the ones in swim diapers) nearly drowned three times because he kept stepping off the step into water over his head.

It was obvious I needed to split the second lesson into two. I made the announcement of the changes to the parents present. Mom A and Mom B were conspicuously not present. I caught Mom A on my way out and told her of the changes I could tell she still wasn't pleased.

Monday night: Both Mom A and Mom B emailed me and told me they had contacted my friend the pool manager and Paige whom I have never met to tell them they had serious concerns and were pulling their kids from the lessons and they wanted a refund (the reasons they offered were totally bogus but I won't get into them here.) I couldn't help but take it personally. Mom A I think had made her mind up to pull her kids before they started and I'm positive Mom B was heavily influenced by Mom A.

Tuesday: Lifeguard doesn't show up. With both kids being pulled from my first lesson I was back to only two lessons. Due to another mix up that was a parent's fault I only had one student in my first lesson. Second lesson was a disaster again. It now had only four students in it. I had another little girl step of the edge into water over her head and because there was no lifeguard to spot her and I was busy with another kid, classy mom in a black and white striped hat had to literally drop her 8 month old and go in after her daughter. So embarrassed. Another little boy kept getting out hoping his mom would bail him out stepped on a bee and got stung. Again no lifeguard to help and I'm in the water with three other little ones unable to help. Disaster.

Wednesday: Pool heater shut off during the night. Pool temp was at 80 degrees. Fine for Michael Phelps not cool for kids under five. Blue lips for everyone!

Thursday (today): Stormed last night. Cleared up during the night but left the temp around a balmy 50. Checked pool temp and it was still at 80. Air temp and water temp still much to cold for little swimmers so I had to cancel and reschedule for Saturday when I should be headed to Logan for a wedding.

We'll see what kind of adventure tomorrow brings. I know things will be better when the pool manager is back but I'm real perturbed that the parents think that this Paige will fix everything. Here's the thing about Paige. She's never taught before. She's taken the certification course but she's never taught before.

I can't wait for this to be over.

Sorry so long. It was kind of therapeutic though.