Lonnie and her dad have been going to the swimming pool near our house nearly every day since we got back from California. Boy is she tanned! One of the big hurdles in Lonnie learning how to swim is that she refused to put her face in the water. I finally got her to wear swim goggles, but she still would not put her face in the water. Well finally last week she started putting her face in the water. She kept watching other kids in the pool going under water to retrieve toys and I guess she wanted in on the fun. Funny how all the coaxing and urging we did was to no avail. Seeing other children doing it was the key. Of course she immediately decided that was all there was to swimming and in a moment of inattention on our part, she got in line to jump off the diving board in the deep end of the pool!
When I made her come back to the shallow end, she was very upset with me. No matter how I tried, I could not make her understand the danger. I finally had to just put it in very concrete terms. I told her that when she could jump off in the 5 foot depth and swim out to me (about 10 feet) without touching the bottom, then she could try the diving board, but only if I or her dad was there with her. She was not happy, but accepted the rule. She is now working on swimming because she really wants to jump off the diving board!
Lonnie is a great joy in my life, but I sometimes despair that she will ever be able to understand "danger" and personal safety. Lonnie is very loving and a true innocent. I hope as she grows she will be able to learn to start looking out for herself. We won't always be here to protect her and I worry about someone taking advantage of her or hurting her.
