Swimming Lessons

My boys started swimming lessons on Monday morning. I am amazed at how much they have already learned in 4 lessons. I think the hardest thing for most kids is getting over their fear of the water - especially going under the water. The hardest thing for me is knowing when to push my children to do something they are afraid of and when to back off and let it go. At the end of each lesson all of the kids alternate between jumping off of the diving board and sliding down a slide into the water (instructors catch the kids in the water). My kids have been great at dunking their faces into the water and diving down into the water (4 feet) to get diving rings, but the diving board (10 ft.) and the slide (5 ft.) scare them to death. Yesterday was diving board day and my 5 yr old would not do it, but the 7 yr old was brave enough to walk out onto the board and look down into the water. There he froze and looked at me and shook his head. I told one of the instuctors to not let him get off of the board and she counted to 3 and dropped him into the pool. He did great and wasn't really upset or anything after it was over.

So today when it was slide day I thought he would do fine, but he would not go. The instructors can't exactly force him to walk up the steps or anything. I tried talking to him, but he wasn't budging. I decided to just let it go. It's hard to know what to do in these situations. I don't want them to not try new things just because they are afraid, but I also want them to know that I won't look down on them because of their fear.

I want them to know that it is okay to be scared, but not okay to just give up without trying. Balancing those two is not always easy, is it?