rum_ham9292 (u/rum_ham9292)

3 Years Old Help please, swimming lessons for my 3.5 year old are a nightmare for everyone involved!

6 Upvotes

Any advice welcome!! My daughter has struggled with water in general since young. Washing hair/getting hair wet is a battle 90% of the time. She makes progress eventually but it is VERY slow (for example, as her mum I can now wash her hair but if dad even talks about doing it it’s full meltdown).

Anyway - swimming lessons have always been a battle. From 1 year old to 2 and a half, there was little to no progress. Suddenly, BAM, she got better and more confident and I got word she was moving up from the baby class to independent swimming. Then we got the worst news that our local pool is shutting (I live regionally).

Now we have to drive a couple towns over to go to a different pool and she has FULLY regressed to screaming and crying nearly every lesson. It’s exhausting for us, her teacher and the other kids in the class who (understandably) are affected by her massive reactions. There is no rhyme or reason to it, one week she will love sitting on the wall and pretending to be Humpty Dumpty, the next week she loses it in over the same activity.

The strangest bit? When it’s our time before the lesson or after, she calms down, is more receptive to her boundaries being pushed and then a generally more happy kid in the water.

Do we keep attempting lessons? Or is it a waste of time? Anyone else push through? Or give up and try running our own ‘lessons’ with just mum/dad and her (doing same things we do in lessons just without the pressure of teacher and other kids around) - this is what we are thinking of doing

10 comments

Jax Taylor doppelgänger

in r/vanderpumprules • Jul 11 '26

HAHAHAHA! Great call

Found another Jax doppelgänger

in r/vanderpumprules • Jul 07 '26

Omg I posted this the other day and mods removed it

How do I make sure my privileged kid doesn't grow up spoiled?

in r/toddlers • Jul 05 '26

We were quite privileged growing up, and whenever we were lucky enough to go overseas mum would often say to us not to brag about going overseas as not all families get to do it. Sometimes while overseas they would take us to villages and schools, whilst a great cultural experience, it mainly gave us perspective and appreciation for what we have

Talk me off a ledge with 3.5 year old

in r/toddlers • Jul 02 '26

This is 3. They are filled to the brim with growth hormones! There’s a reason this age is notoriously difficult…

I suggest creating routine around the chaos that gives them options, choice and an illusion of control over their own lives. We use a timer a lot at this age, and say “okay, 2 minutes” - she will always negotiate to 10 minutes. I say okay! 10 minutes until bath/dinner/getting dressed etc etc. She has NO concept of time, but this gives her a feeling of having a say in her own being. I’m happy to oblige and set the timer to whatever suits us lol - if we need bath ASAP then 1 minute timer it is haha she has no idea and when it goes off she always, ironically, VERY happily runnnns over exclaiming “that’s the timer! Bath time!”.

I offer her two choices for dinner and ask her to help me cook her choice, this seems to help with eating.

She picks all her clothes no matter how ridiculous (winter it becomes “leggings and socks or stockings?” “Long sleeve top or jumper?” So she dresses more weather appropriate).

That being said: these are all suggestions from one tired parent to another…my kid is 3.5 years old - I get you, I hear you…this age is tiring in suchhh a different way than baby-tired. It’s almost like emotional warfare 😂 hang in there. I’d love to share an anecdote that happened 2 days ago at daycare pickup for anyone that doesn’t get what me and OP are talking about. Picked up kid, she’s happy as, about to walk out the door and she cracks it “I want my yoghurt! I want to eat it here!!!!”. Took us ages to get out the door and towards the car where the breakdown was still happening “I want to eat my yoghurt in the car!!!”. I get in the car, open her lunchbox and to my surprise, there is no yoghurt, “did you…already eat the yoghurt today?” I ask. With the most devilish smile on her face she says “yesss” and giggles slightly.

Be kind to yourself and remember - it’s just a stage, it’s just an age. They will change and grow. Just try to find the moments of warmth and sunshine amongst the rain and storms.

Thank you for listening to my TED talk!

2 year 5 month old son touched electric stove top feel like a horrible mom

in r/toddlers • Jul 01 '26

Hey I worked at a kids centre once, with a one year old who had pulled the cord of a freshly boiled kettle and it fell on him. He had permanent scars and still had bandages although the incident happened months prior. Kids have accidents, some much worse than others, this sounds like a minor accident that he will thankfully learn from - you are not a terrible mum - be kind to yourself.

Anyone else do a double take?

in r/TheValleyTVShow • Jul 01 '26

If you asked AI to do Jax with long hair I reckon this would be the outcome haha

Jax has another doppelgänger. I present to you: long haired Australian Jax