Warner M.D.: Bill's house

My nephew Jayden, who is 12, was trying to earn his 2nd class rank in the BSA and needed to know how to swim. He has never been comfortable at swimming.

I for one was thrown into a pool when I was younger and did just great, never had a swimming lesson. Jayden's mom Cat convinced me at age 6 to jump off an olympic high-dive, this 14 yr old sister of mine would be at the bottom waiting to help me! HA so being the little sister I was pressured into doing it! I could only doggie paddle but I was a confident doggie paddler! I think this is where my fear of heights came from; I jumped and went too far in the water but not far enough to kick off the bottom to push up fast! I came out of the water with little air left! Of course she kept her promise and was there to support me but not really help because she could only doggie paddle herself! Hind Sight is 20/20! I continued to do this but never really liked the height of the diving board but loved the water! Derrick has always loved the water! He was on swim team and can do some awesome strokes; love the butterfly. Derrick and I told Cat that if we could swim at her boyfriend’s pool, we would give Jayden swim lessons! At first he had a life jacket on at all times! We started by swimming with him in the shallow side with a jacket on so he felt comfortable. When he consistently could swim from one side to the other comfortably, we took off the vest! It was hard at first but he became more and more comfortable. We taught him technique so he wouldn’t push water in his eyes and up his nose. Then we convinced him to jump off the diving board with the vest on, we would sit and wait at the end! We did that for a while until he felt comfortable jumping off and swimming to the edge. Little by little, week-by-week throughout the summer he became more and more comfortable in the water! We are so proud of him!!