is a beginning class. The focus is on getting comfortable in the water, learning to stay above the surface, not racing a fifty-meter freestyle in under thirty seconds.”
“It’s hard to break the bad habits.” He wasn’t budging on this. Sure, he’d been wrong about the reward method for vegetables, but he was right about this. He knew it. It took the better part of his thirteenth summer to relearn how to breaststroke because of a bad instructor when he was little.
“She’s four. She’s not training for the Olympics in Rio.” This time there was steel at the bottom of her voice. “And whether she was in training for the Olympics or not, you’re here as a guest. ”
Alex took a deep breath. Two. Counted to five. What was going on here? He’d merely wanted to encourage his daughter to take swimming seriously, and Paige was acting as if he’d completely betrayed them both. “I’m trying to help,” he said, but the words sounded angrier than he intended.
“No, you’re trying to instill more by-the-book parenting on her. You can’t reward kids into acting the way you want and you can’t expect them to be perfect imitations, either. You were a swimmer. I get it. But you were a swimmer as a teen, not a toddler. There’s a difference.” She looked around, her face pale and her hands clenching the bench seat, white at the knuckles. “And we aren’t doing this here. Not in the middle of her lesson. If you want to continue this discussion, we’ll go outside. She’s had enough embarrassment.”
Alex looked around. Every parent in the pool area had their gazes trained on him and Paige, not the water. Not the kids. He swallowed this time, feeling like he imagined Kaylie had when she went under so quickly after he called out to her.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass her. Or you,” he said stiffly. He folded his arms over his chest and scooted back on the bench, determined to watch the rest of the lesson without saying a word.
How did it come to this uncomfortable point? He’d only been trying to help. Was it too soon to act like a parent? When could it be okay? And how the heck was he supposed to know what to say to the kid when everything he’d read was apparently wrong?
Once all the children finished their strokes, the instructors pulled out Hula-Hoops, submerging them partially below the water. He watched as Kaylie kicked away from the wall, buried her head in the water and stroked forward through the hoop. Felt a glow of excitement when he saw the joy on the little girl’s face as she realized she’d swum half the length of the shallow end. Paige called out to her, praising the effort, and Alex joined in. So what if her arms weren’t straight and if she only reached above the surface a couple of times? His kid just swam, face in the water, for nearly ten meters.
Alex held out his hand to high-five Paige, but she kept her focus on the girl in the water.
It wasn’t like this pre-Paige. He and Dee had agreed on parenting styles, had found the same benefit from the book she picked out when they first began talking about having kids. They agreed on parenting styles—stern, focused, but giving the child room to breathe and have their own opinions. That was what calling to Kaylie was about. Wasn’t it? Trying to help her be the best she could be—that was how a parent acted.
Alex blew out a breath. If they were going to do this, really be coparents, they had to figure out a way to agree. Starting with an apology couldn’t hurt.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass her or step all over your toes.”
“Is that an apology? Because she’s the one who needs it, not me.” Shoulders stiff, Paige kept her attention on the pool.
Alex wasn’t so sure about only Kaylie needing the apology. “I’ll talk to her after the lesson. I hope you can understand I’m new at this. Everything I know about kids I read in a parenting book over four years ago and then skimmed over again a couple of weeks ago.”
She
“It’s hard to break the bad habits.” He wasn’t budging on this. Sure, he’d been wrong about the reward method for vegetables, but he was right about this. He knew it. It took the better part of his thirteenth summer to relearn how to breaststroke because of a bad instructor when he was little.
“She’s four. She’s not training for the Olympics in Rio.” This time there was steel at the bottom of her voice. “And whether she was in training for the Olympics or not, you’re here as a guest. ”
Alex took a deep breath. Two. Counted to five. What was going on here? He’d merely wanted to encourage his daughter to take swimming seriously, and Paige was acting as if he’d completely betrayed them both. “I’m trying to help,” he said, but the words sounded angrier than he intended.
“No, you’re trying to instill more by-the-book parenting on her. You can’t reward kids into acting the way you want and you can’t expect them to be perfect imitations, either. You were a swimmer. I get it. But you were a swimmer as a teen, not a toddler. There’s a difference.” She looked around, her face pale and her hands clenching the bench seat, white at the knuckles. “And we aren’t doing this here. Not in the middle of her lesson. If you want to continue this discussion, we’ll go outside. She’s had enough embarrassment.”
Alex looked around. Every parent in the pool area had their gazes trained on him and Paige, not the water. Not the kids. He swallowed this time, feeling like he imagined Kaylie had when she went under so quickly after he called out to her.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass her. Or you,” he said stiffly. He folded his arms over his chest and scooted back on the bench, determined to watch the rest of the lesson without saying a word.
How did it come to this uncomfortable point? He’d only been trying to help. Was it too soon to act like a parent? When could it be okay? And how the heck was he supposed to know what to say to the kid when everything he’d read was apparently wrong?
Once all the children finished their strokes, the instructors pulled out Hula-Hoops, submerging them partially below the water. He watched as Kaylie kicked away from the wall, buried her head in the water and stroked forward through the hoop. Felt a glow of excitement when he saw the joy on the little girl’s face as she realized she’d swum half the length of the shallow end. Paige called out to her, praising the effort, and Alex joined in. So what if her arms weren’t straight and if she only reached above the surface a couple of times? His kid just swam, face in the water, for nearly ten meters.
Alex held out his hand to high-five Paige, but she kept her focus on the girl in the water.
It wasn’t like this pre-Paige. He and Dee had agreed on parenting styles, had found the same benefit from the book she picked out when they first began talking about having kids. They agreed on parenting styles—stern, focused, but giving the child room to breathe and have their own opinions. That was what calling to Kaylie was about. Wasn’t it? Trying to help her be the best she could be—that was how a parent acted.
Alex blew out a breath. If they were going to do this, really be coparents, they had to figure out a way to agree. Starting with an apology couldn’t hurt.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass her or step all over your toes.”
“Is that an apology? Because she’s the one who needs it, not me.” Shoulders stiff, Paige kept her attention on the pool.
Alex wasn’t so sure about only Kaylie needing the apology. “I’ll talk to her after the lesson. I hope you can understand I’m new at this. Everything I know about kids I read in a parenting book over four years ago and then skimmed over again a couple of weeks ago.”
She
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