I've discussed Ellie's lack of fear before. I can be certain because I know I've used the same
lame collage of Daredevil and Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' twice.
Still, though,
her lack of fear continues to astonish me. As I was thinking about it today, I
had a question pop into my head. Are children born with the capacity to fear or
is it simply learned through experience?
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| Don't worry Mr. Butterfly. |
I believe wholeheartedly that children learn to be cautious.
In my book though, fear and caution are distinctly different reactions. Caution
is simply thinking before you act. Fear is more of a crippling reaction to stimuli.
Those definitions aren't dictionary definitions by the way, just made-up
definitions brought forth from my own understandings of the term.
At this point, anyone still reading is likely wondering why
I'm pretending to be deep and philosophical. They're probably also wondering if
I'll start explaining the meaning of life next (According to 'Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy, it's 42). The answer to that is no. Instead, I'll just
talk about how Ellie's taking swim lessons again this month.
Today marked the second week of Ellie's second round of swim
lessons. While her first round, which occurred back in winter and/or spring, was fun, I thought she might get more out of it by waiting to take the
second round. For the record, two weeks in and I believe I have collected
enough evidence to confirm my hypothesis was correct.
For Ellie, her first round of lessons were spent mostly in
the safety of my arms as her lip quivered from the intense cold of the pool.
This time around, even though her lip still quivers, she is more likely to be
happily splashing about and attempting to swim on her own. As there's only two
other kids in Ellie's class, she's getting plenty of 1:1 time with the teacher
to learn.
When we arrived for our lessons today, it was all I could do
to convince Ellie to not immediately jump into the pool before her teacher
arrived. Once lessons finally began, Ellie started off standing on a moveable
platform, allowing her to keep her head above water. Then, she was encouraged
to run back and forth between me and the teacher.
It didn't take too long of doing that for the inevitable to
occur. By that, I mean Ellie tripping and falling into the water. Obviously, my
protective instincts kicked in and I quickly fished my daughter out of the
water. While I expected tears, I was instead greeted by laughing and smiling.
With that, Ellie went back to running back and forth across the platform which the teacher said was a great thing.
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| Not really applicable, but I hope you enjoy watching this horse swim. |
Soon after, the teacher took Ellie in her arms and laid her
flat on her back in the water, proceeding to slowly drag Ellie around the pool.
Last time around, Ellie would have no part of this activity as she didn't want
water in her ears. This time though, she couldn't have cared less as she was
completely at peace in the water.
The final activity for the day centered around convincing
Ellie it was ok to put her face in the water. As part of this activity, Ellie
found herself right back on the same platform she started lessons on. The
teacher gently wiggled a plastic fish around Ellie's feet in the water until
Ellie decided it was time to try and get the fish. She first tried to bend down
slightly, only to find that her prize had "dived" lower. Then, she
attempted to use her foot to hook the fish and bring it up to her, only to find
that her prize continued to elude her.
Finally, with no other recourse left, she bent at her waist
and plunged her face into the water. While doing so, she actually remembered to blow
bubbles out of her mouth like we had been working on. Impressive, right?
With that, the teacher gave Ellie the fish she had so desperately desired.
Approximately four seconds after that, Ellie lost interest in said fish, letting t
it sink to the bottom of the pool.
Regardless of one's age and comfort, being under water is
not a natural experience for humans. That being said, I couldn't be more proud
of Ellie's lack of fear in learning how to be cautious and comfortable in the
water. After all, even Michael Phelps had to start somewhere, right?
#DaddyWrite
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| Bet you thought you'd get away without seeing this again... |
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