But I Smile Anyway…

Linda’s prompt for #SoCS this week:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: Start with “WHEN.” Write whatever you’d like, but begin your post with the word “when.” Enjoy!

“When can we go swimming, Mummy?”

That’s a question I hear all the time, and have heard a lot over the last few year.

Kids love swimming and water. If we go anywhere, even for a night, the first question will be “Is there a swimming pool?”

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love swimming, but the last few years, it has been less swimming and more eagle eyes in back of head, as I watched warily to make sure one of my brood didn’t drown.

Lil Man is actually pretty good, so he can head on up to the deep end, and dives in, swims around with confidence.

Lil Princess however, was a different story. She had learned how to swim, was doing really well, then I had to cancel the lessons as full-time teaching took its toll on after-school activities. She resorted to staying in the shallow end, or baby pool, splashing around, and pretending to swim (doing the arm movements, but hopping along the floor of the pool!).

I always felt bad, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.

We have a couple of local pools, and when the holidays come the same old question rings out constantly: “When can we go swimming?”

I shouldn’t have a problem, but I do. Several.

1. I want to actually swim too, but can’t as I am on life guard duty.
2. The pools are full of crazy kids jumping in at random times, and, shock, horror, getting my hair wet!
3. I’d need to defuzz… and I hate having to do all that preening, just to enter a pool full of strangers!
4. Going there requires an effort I don’t always have, in lazy lounging holiday mode!
5. Public pools can be so…dirty!

Usually, when we go to visit my parents, there is a trip to the pool involved. Luckily my mum loves to swim too, and so we station ourselves, one with Flipper (Lil Man) and one with wannabe Mermaid (Lil Princess).

We swap over the hour or so we are there, and get a little chance to swim too.

This summer, the cries for swimming have been more intense.

Why?

Because Lil Princess has been taking swimming lessons at school, and, like they say you never forget how to ride a bike (not true…I’m sure I can’t any more!) it appears to be the same with swimming.

“Mummy, I want to show you how I swim! I’m nearly in the top group too!”

So, when in Birmingham the other week, we took them.

And what a pleasant surprise!

My daughter really can swim!

And we spent the whole time in the deep end, with the kids jumping off the diving boards, and swimming. It only took one of us to be life guard, freeing the other up to actually swim!

Because I was so happy to see that, I even got convinced to show them my diving. It’s been a long time since I dived, and, many moons ago, I was pretty good.

Well, I didn’t belly flop (that was Lil Princess’s domain this time!) but I forgot the pressure as you hit the water, and nearly twisted my neck the first time! It was marginally better the second.

Diving means my hair got wet too – another annoyance that I overcame!

She’s happy, she’s shown Mummy she can swim. And mummy is very proud of her.

But not everyone knows of her skills, and she needs to demonstrate them again, so now the request is being made elsewhere…

“When can we go swimming, Daddy?”

Yeah, you take them this time! The question is…When?