Some of us are more fearful than others. Some of us live the lives of action movie heroes, some romantic comedy characters while others take part in a thriller almost every day of their lives.
When it comes to swimming, let’s never forget, water is dangerous and the fear of it is a healthy response indeed. Yet, paradoxically, water is also the element of life on this planet and there is no life possible without it, hence a sound and safe relationship with it sounds like a must.
Fear is simply either the reaction to the unknown or the reaction to an experience learned to be unpleasant before. Gentle and gradual introduction to the novelty works wonders, as for the second chances – they need some extra push – just remember Neo in Matrix and the very true saying of Morpheus that “nothing works at the first time”, first try is always a failure and for that reason we can not stop and listen to our fearful reptile brain but follow the voice of evolution and try again, and again and again sometimes, until we succeed.
Exposure therapy, facing the very thing causing fear, is in fact the best treatment for phobias, according to Dr. Emanuel Maidenberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry who specializes in anxiety disorders at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. He said that phobias often start with one traumatic experience and, untreated, tend to blossom. Over time, sufferers avoid more and more situations to stave off their anxiety. Here you'll find a beautiful story, published in LA Times few years ago, of Joe McCauley's who has overcome his fear of water at the age of 38.
Through countless repetitions unknown becomes known and fear gets replaced by confidence.
Here comes the power of laugh, the more joy we can introduce to these potentially fearsome situations the faster the fear will recede so don’t forget to smile while putting your child under water for the very first time!
At last and most importantly remember that your critical evaluation of present conditions is a much better indicator of any potential danger than your child’s cry, then yet the evaluation of the situation done by a professional swim instructor will be even more accurate than yours since she or he has seen hundreds if not thousands of similar cases, while for you it is the first or second one.
With that being said, you know your child best at the end so if for any reason you have a strong feeling that it is being forced beyond its capabilities don’t hesitate and stop the situation as gently as possible to discuss your point of view with the teacher.
Interestingly enough too much confidence can be deadly as well, too many times have I seen little swimmers who just recognized their ability to hold their breath underwater throwing themselves into far too deep and distant territories. In these cases, nothing helps more than no help, as the rescue is necessary it should be offered at the very last minute so that not so long forgotten feeling of fear can bring the healthy respect for water back in place.
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