Monkey See Monkey Do

Why do we use goggles?

La Petite Baleen uses goggles in our swim lessons and we are often asked why. We even have our tiny babies wearing goggles.

There are a handful of reasons why we want our swimmers to wear goggles:

Balance. Probably the most important reason we encourage our swimmers, (even the littlest babies) to wear goggles is because it gives them visual feedback. Doctors would call this peripheral vestibular information. Boy, is this a big one for development! Not only does swimming use both sides of the brain mimicking the crawling motion but gives this neuro-visual stimulation through goggles. In layman's terms, they can see better therefore balance better with goggles on in the water.

Protection. While it is safe to swim in our pools without goggles, it certainly is more comfortable to wear goggles and keep the chlorine out of their eyes. Eyes are very sensitive. Most of us adults have experienced red burning eyes from too much swimming underwater without goggles. No one wants to see their baby red eyed and crying after swim class.

Fun! Looking underwater at toys and for direction (swimming into stairs) gives the child a sense of accomplishment and independence. This is what we are looking for in Level 1 and Toddler and Me. The child swims by themselves to an island or stairs, a good 5 -6 feet with paddle arms. Being able to focus and zone in on a landing spot underwater is supported by goggles.

I prefer my baby and toddler classes to wear goggles. I start putting them on them before they can even reach up and take them off. In the beginning, this might disturb their wonderful submersions, causing them to "blame" the goggles. They come up coughing and ripping the goggles off. I keep putting them on though. Most parents are supportive of my efforts and back me up. I'm OK being the "bad guy" when it comes to goggles...it's my job, I just keep putting them on! Around age 1, however, many babies reach what I call the goggle anarchy stage. They start taking them off. Goggles seem to slow them down because they are busy taking off with their kicking and paddling. With the parents support, we do push past this time and the light bulb seems to turn on one day when they spot a ring on the bottom of the pool! Then they just want to keep their face underwater non stop.

"But why does LPB have a 'no goggle swim' in Level 3?" You may ask. While goggles are amazing and we encourage all parents to use them, Level 3 encompasses many safety skills. We want children to know it's OK to swim without them, that they can still do all the skills they know in the pool without goggles on. Some kids (older than toddler age) panic without their goggles on. So, LPB purposely built confident swimming without goggles as a skill into our level system. If an LPB student falls or gets knocked into a pool, we want them to swim to a wall and climb out.

So parents, we want your children to benefit from goggles, not be frozen without them. The ones we use at our schools are specially designed for children's small faces. They fit babies well too. I would encourage you to buy a pair. Use them at home in the bathtub while you do some "swimming homework". Some parents have reported putting them on their kids, lathering up with shampoo and rinsing underwater with no worries about soap in the eyes. While we want kids to be comfortable with water in their face and eyes, this is a clever way to also get them used to and liking goggles.

This post is dedicated to my little 12 month old swimmer Zoe who fights me every week with the goggles. I love her spirit!

Sub-mersion

"Teacher Shannon will be subbing for Teacher Dana today". The sign reads on the door as you walk into swim lessons. What goes through your mind as a mom? "Oh man, here we go again, she's not going to get in with a teacher she doesn't know." Or, "Cool a new teacher!" How you respond to a substitute teacher can help or hinder your child with new situations and new people.

I admit, I feel a pang of frustration when I walk in and see our teacher isn't there in the pool. My kids LOVE their teachers and so do I. Swimming is very intimate and develops a trusting relationship between teacher and child. But my kids have had some of their best lessons with subs! They show off, they play more or they listen more!

Some parents I have over heard talk to their 3 year old like this: "Now Nancy, teacher Dyan isn't here today cause she's sick, is it OK if you swim with teacher Chelsea instead?? She's really nice. Look, she's right there." Seriously. Asking a 3 year old permission is not OK. Parents need to set the tone and make the decisions with regard to swim lessons. This is about safety as much as about fun.

I've heard other parents say to their kids, "Kacey, check it out a new teacher. Tell her what your favorite thing to do in class is." My favorite is watching teacher Shannon smile at the kids and say, "I'm teacher Arlette today, don't I look like her?" This gets even the youngest kids laughing...the silliness.

There are those times where some kids who are sensitive just can't deal with a sub. A common problem is usually girls sometimes have a hard time with boy substitute teachers. Poor Teacher Vince. The boys are loving his energy but the girls are often turned off by his boisterous volume.

Parents, my message here is: You can help us out by being up beat and supportive even when you are discouraged about having a substitute teacher. Our kids absorb so much of our mood and can take that with them into the pool. Here at LPB we only get your kids for 30 minutes a week and would love for it to be enjoyable and full of learning.

As a teacher, I don't like missing my classes at all. I love my students but sometimes we are on vacation. La Petite Baleen strives to get consistent loving teachers that are committed to your child and their attendance. This is a learning environment where we like to mix structure with flexibility. Parents, you are our best allies and your child's best allies. See you at the pool!

Swimming with an ear infection?

Here at La Petite Baleen we specialize in babies under the age of 2. Parents often ask us if their baby can swim if they have an ear infection. Our answer to that is YES!

An ear infection is the swelling and infection in the "inner ear". It can be painful but sometimes a parent does not know their child has one until the Dr. looks in there and say, "Hey, did you know he has an ear infection?" Because your inner ear is protected by your ear drum, water cannot get in and make worse an infection. The exception to that is if they have a perforated ear drum. A perforated ear drum is extremely painful and can be diagnosed by your pediatrician. But for a regular ear infection, your baby can continue to swim. In an older child with an ear infection, I would not want them to go diving for rings past 4 ft. deep simply from the pressure that can cause discomfort.

An infection of the outer ear, also called "Swimmers Ear", is very painful and seen in older children and adults. Even a slight tug on the ear cause much pain and it is often difficult to even sleep on a pillow from the pain. You can also swim with swimmers ear. Caution must be taken to properly dry out the ear after swimming and bathing. I like to use a mixture of rubbing alcohol and distilled vinegar, let it sit in my ear for 60 seconds and flip my head over and let it drain out. My husband likes to blow the blowdryer on his ear to really dry it out.

Keep an eye out for inner ear infections in your babies if they often have congestion or colds. But know that coming to swimming will help them feel better if they are not too lethargic. I love swimming with my baby when he has a cold, the warm moist air often cleans him out and he can rest calmly afterwards. So be encouraged that your children CAN swim with an ear infection. Ask your pediatrician if you don't believe me:)

Sensory Swimming

Children often come to swim lessons with a wide range of skills. Because we specialize in younger kids, we get the major gross motor skill (large body movements, crawling, running, climbing) growth patterns right at our door. Children from birth until age four have the largest growth in gross motor skills. I was just recently talking to a mom nursing her 2 month old while I sat playing with my 10 month old who is scaling counters, climbing up and down my stairs on his own as well as cruising. I just looked at her and said, can you believe your baby will be doing this is only 8 months. She just shook her head in disbelief. It's amazing what babies, toddlers and preschool age children are capable of and the rate of growth they experience. After age 4, their fine motor skills start to take over the speedy rate of development which coincides with writing skills, coloring in the lines, etc. While your gross motor skills are still developing, they don't improve at the same rate.

This is why any swim teacher will tell you physically it is easier to teacher a younger child/baby to swim. Their gross motor skills are still fluid. I can actually sense and feel how a child is reacting in the water simply by touching them. Are they scared, struggling, tense, relaxed. I have a toddler in my class right now who is an excellent swimmer. He just turned two. He likes to go under water, float, look around and simply float there. His mom gets nervous and picks him up to breath. I am teaching her how to let him experiment, roll around and blow bubbles. He thinks it is hilarious. I tell the mom, "You will know when he is running out of air, his body movements will change and get rigid or he might start kicking and paddling like crazy." This boy doesn't need me to teach him. He is teaching himself through his self exploration and experimenting. It's Mommy I'm teaching to support that kind of play and fun in the water.

We get many kids with physical delays as well as sensory issues. Swimming is used in therapy all over the world but especially with children. Water is 30 times more pressure on the body than air. This can either provide resistance or assistance as well as some pretty awesome feedback. I have a little girl in lessons right now who had some physical as well as verbal delays. She came in at 4 yet walked like she was 2. After 6 weeks in lessons, she noticeably had smoother movements in and out of the water. She was using bi-lateral movements with her arms as well as upper body strength climbing out of the pool and balance of her whole body. I get so much joy and fulfillment from teaching children like this. Seeing their marked improvement is so uplifting and encouraging.

Sensory issues come up often too. Kids who rip off the goggles and can't have anything on their face. Some kids can't wear the fins, let alone shoes their moms say. I get to support the parents in introducing these things to their kids and slowly trying to release or at least get them used to some of the stimuli. When we give out ribbons here at La Petite Baleen, we ring a large bell and cheer. Sometimes some kids are triggered with unexpected and loud sounds and shut down, not even wanting their ribbon. Or here in Half Moon bay, our slide can be so much fun as an end of class activity. Kids with sensory issues often would rather climb to the top themselves, having pressure on their feet than be lifted to the halfway slide and be free feeling in the air. Some kids need that pressure on their feet to feel stable.

I just love bringing swimming to all kids. I have seen it benefit kids with autism, sensory and physical delays. My dad once even taught a girl with no arms and legs to swim. That was special and amazing to watch. But I will never forget it. Any child can swim and benefit from the therapeutic as well as multi sensory, skill building wonderment it is. I just love teaching these babies and children. What a wonderful job this is!

Breaking the Entitlement Cycle

I recently read this wonderful article in M: for the woman in every mom magazine here on the peninsula. I loved this article so much I called the author Jennifer Rhodes and asked her if I could post it on our blog. She and I had a wonderful chat and she gave me permission to post it here. I especially liked her reference to the 'self esteem' movement and how the repercussions of that style of parenting are morphing into the entitlement parenting and how these children are faring once in and out of college. Thank you Jennifer for a great article and for your insight as a professional that works with children and families.

Breaking the Entitlement Cycle

by Jennifer Rhodes, Psy.D.

Maggie comes home from school and says she needs a cell phone.

But she doesn't want just any cell phone-it has to be an iPhone 4.

After all, she's in fourth grade and all of her friends have one. Maggie

is relentless. She wants a phone. She needs a phone. Over the

course of a month, Maggie does not miss an opportunity to inform

her parents of how unfair they arc being by not giving her one.

Matthew is a second grader who is crazy about sports. He does

well, maybe even a bit better than other kids in his peer group, but

he struggles with sportsmanship and boasts that he is "clearly the

best." While sports come more easily than other things to Matthew,

he struggles when his coach pushes him to expand his skills. Rather

than seeing an opportunity, he gives up or blames others for the

failure. In Cub Scouts, when he doesn't win the pinewood derby,

he is devastated and yells, "It's not fair the track must be broken!"

Jenna is a college freshman. All through elementary, junior high

and high school, she got her schoolwork done on time, participated

in multiple sports and extracurricular activities. But away

from home, she can't handle the stress of having to choose her own

classes, make her own schedule and structure her own time. Her

parents or her counselors had always given her deadlines, helped

her choose her activities, and followed through to make sure things

in her life were done. Now in college, she is anxious and stressed

out because the pressure is too much for her to handle on her own,

and for the first time in her life, her grades begin to slip.

As parents, we hear a lot about entitlement. Here in Silicon Valley,

where the accumulation of wealth or the perceived accumulation of

wealth surrounds us, it feels especially noticeable. While the notion

of entitlement is often thought to be related to wealth, it is actually

an attitude and a way to perceive oneself ("I expect to receive ... ")

and can be influenced by how we parent, with or without great

amounts of money. Entitlement is not simply buying a child too

many things. It is a process of parenting that promotes giving children

too much, too soon or doing things for children that they can

do for themselves. The consequences are often that children experience

a false sense of self-esteem, an expectation of life being "easy"

and/or an insatiable need to be validated by others. The danger is

that these children can fall apart later in life when they realize that

they may not be as fabulous-smart-talented as they have been told

all their lives.

Entitled parenting interrupts a child's normal development

including learning the skills to help cope with disappointment

and developing the ability to accurately assess one's own strengths

and weaknesses. Kids who do not develop these skills later have

difficulty understanding how to cope with everyday srtessors and

using their knowledge to make healthy personal decisions. Entitled

children often have difficulty learning that all people have weaknesses

and no one is perfect.

Entitled parenting has been greatly influenced by the self-esteem

movement over the past 20 years. This movement sought to use a

strength-based approach to promote the healthy development of

children. But it has largely been misinterpreted by well-meaning

professionals and parents. Kids no longer keep score while playing

tee-ball for fear that the competition is harmful. Every child

in a classroom now receives a gold star whether they earned the

star or not out of fear that someone's feelings may be hurt. The

consequence of the idea that everyone is equal regardless of his

individual achievements is that our culture has started to interfere

with a child's natural and evolving understanding of his abilities

and strengths. Without this skill, children do not develop adequate

coping skills that may help them later in life.

Providing children with material possessions, even with the good

intention of trying to make them feel better, fuels the sense of

entitlement and does little to help their self-esteem. Giving in to

a child's desire to be like everyone else and have the same things

as his friends may seem like a good idea, especially to protect him

from being the only one who doesn't have something. But it actually

can teach a child that working for something or earning something

is not necessary to getting what he wants. That can become

dangerous when it comes time to be an adult and the hand-outs

from employers do not exist

Trying to raise a child in Silicon Valley can be tough-not only

because of the academic pressures and the current economy, but

because of the wide diversity of social pressures as well. Even if

you feel that you are doing your best to ground your child with

the understanding that certain privileges should be earned, how do

you help your child cope with the peer pressure that other entitled

children and their families promulgate?

1. Work on your relationship with your child. Provide age appropriate

structure, limits and boundaries. When your child

is young, work on building a solid foundation of trust and

responsiveness in order to help your child cope with stress and

disappointment. For school-age children, work on increasing

impulse control and a sense of responsibility. For teenagers,

promote age-appropriate money management skills and

encouraging them to volunteer or take on other work-related

activities. These strategies will help you develop a better

ability to understand your child and lead to a happier and

healthier relationship, which is the foundation for a healthy

and successful child.

Matthew's parents, for example, could help him build a true sense

of himself by praising him for participating in the sport and his

sportsmanship, not just for winning. They could talk about other

ways to help out and to work as a team member, such as with setup,

clean-up or uniforms, so that he can see that being involved

as part of a team is not only about winning or losing-it is about

responsibility to other peers as well.

2. Promote age-appropriate autonomy by avoiding doing too

many things that your child may be able to do for himself. For

example, over-scheduling your child for after-school activities

will not teach your child how to manage his time. Instead,

weigh the pros and cons of different activities or determine

which activities he likes best. For example, if your 8-yearold

is engaged in too many after-school activities without

any thought or input (because you have made the choice), it

becomes more difficult in high school for him to prioritize

activities and make appropriate scheduling choices.

Jenna could have benefitted from her parents allowing her to make

some choices about classes and activities while in junior high and

high school so that her transition to college would not have been so

fraught with anxiety. Choices teach valuable skills in decision making,

prioritization and coping with frustration.

3. Understand that your child's questions, concerns or demands

about how he differs from his peers in terms of dress or

other material things is not only a typical part of your child's

development; it is an opening for a more important conversation:

What are your family values? How are these values the

same or different from other families? How did you earn the

nice things in your home? How do you define success? Maggie's

parents could tell her that her family believes children don't

need a smart phone of their own until 8th grade. It is their

family rule. When she keeps asking for one, they have a firm

answer that promotes their values and teaches Maggie that

privileges increase as children are able to handle more responsibility

By having an open conversation with your child about the differences

he notices and what your rules and boundaries are, you will

not only prepare your child to cope with entitled children and

families, bur will also promote his success in the world by building

his social competence. If successful, your child will easily transition

to college while the entitled children will be struggling to come to

terms with the meaning of hard work, dedication, and reward.

Dr. Rhodes is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Menlo Park and San Francisco. She specializes in working with issues related to divorce, entitlement and relationships between parents and their children. Dr. Rhodes also maintains a psychotherapy and assessment practice for children and adolescents. She can be reached at 415.509.5616 or at drjenniferrhodes@gmail.com.

Let's get creative!

I'm usually a very structured teacher when I am teaching my swim lessons. My kids know what to expect, and for the most part, I follow the same lesson plan with slight variations. Of course I am always pushing my swimmers to their limits and have an eye for fine tuning. I can be fairly picky about how and when I give out ribbons. For example, their side breathing on freestyle or "big arms" needs to include rotation of their body on the long axis. Or for upfaces, I need their breath to be close to perfect and for them to have the confidence that comes with the blue ribbon.

So while most kids thrive in my structured environment, it's nice to break out of that mold once in a while. Sometimes I have surprised my students and told them to go walk to the slide to start off the class (in our Half Moon Bay pool). "We are doing a backwards class!" I tell them. Their eyes get really big and they kind of stand there staring at me. "Has she lost her mind, where's my teacher Liesl?" Hehe. I love throwing them for a loop and mixing it up a bit. We have so much fun.
During my swim shift on Tuesday morning, I have a gold ribbon class full of home schooled 10 year olds. I have to give credit to my swimmer Jonathan for his silliness. It's because of his playful distractions that I got my most recent creative ideas. So here's what went down. During our class, floaties often come into our lane, pushed in by the Toddler class next to us. Jonathan is very playful and picked up 3 of the floaties and put them on his arms. "Take off the floaties, it's time for underwater sw....... Hmmm, never mind. You want to see what it's like to do an underwater swim with the floaties on?" We often swim with the racing fins so we ended up doing their underwater swims with floaties! They made it 38 feet with those floaties on and got a great lesson on buoyancy and effort:)

Now that I had shifted into creative mode, I started thinking about some fun things my coach used to do with our training during college. Rick Demont was always cutting edge, thinking of creative and new ways to stay on top of the game while keeping us focused and motivated. One of my favorite drills was what we called Partner Pull. This is done with 2 swimmers, one being the arms while the other is the feet. The rear person holds one foot and provides the propulsion from behind while the front person pulls the water with their stroke . We had a lot fun, especially coming into walls and doing flip turns while staying connected. Needless to say, we got quiet good at it and if they had a Partner Pull Olympics, my partner Shannon and I would be Gold Medal champions.

So I had the kids do some partner pull in class (remember they are already Gold ribbon swimmers), and it was a hit. It helped me see who is strong or weak in pulling or kicking. The best part of partner pull is the push off the wall and the finish into the wall. Each partner can provide either fast momentum or a fast pul in with their legs.

After this, I thought of when Rick Demont would help us get better at our racing dives. He would put a bungee cord around our waist and stand behind us, pull back slightly so we had to resist forward. Then we would launch off with lots of effort working against the pull of the bungee. Afterwards, he would take the bungee off, and we would do a racing dive and we would shoot off that block like a bullet out of a gun. I thought of how I could apply this to my students but didn't have a bungee band. So I improvised with the rope from the lifesaver hanging up on the wall. I put it around the kids waist kind of like reigns on a horse and slightly pulled back. When I sent them off on their dive, I had to let go completely but they got the idea of resisting forward against the pull back of the rope. By now class was over but we were having so much fun!

It's nice for me to break out of my mold and structure and 'go with the flow'. I am even applying this to my everyday life. And thank you Jonathan for your inspiration!

Book Review, Raising Resilient Children

Raising resilient children sure sounds great. In fact the preface to this book defines the resilient mindset as the ability to cope with and overcome adversity. This of course should be an essential component in all children. However this book simply echoe'd to me the theme of the 80's and the "self esteem" movement.

When I think of children who need to be resilient, I think of children growing up without food and water, with abuse or in Europe during WWII. These would be extreme examples of course but this is my starting off point. Here in America, we have food, running water and medical care. However many kids are abused, neglected, struggling through their parents divorce or simply struggling with growing up. While reading this book it was clear that the author's "large volume of research" consisted of their own clinical and private practice. They were not talking about children in Juvenile Hall but everyday children dealing with everyday social, school and family issues.

At first glance this book might sound great. I want my child to be resilient and to be able to overcome adversity. But with further reading, it does not address how to truly raise a child who can overcome "adversity". It sounded to me like how to raise a child who will expect a softened world and everything will be catered to him. A kind of how to avoid adversity in a sense. I got the sense of hand holding being promoted here.

Let's go back to the 80's mantra of beefing up every child's 'self esteem'. This backfired and contributed to a generation of children who couldn't do anything on their own, cope and have been labelled "entitled". Key points in Raising Resilient Children include: Being empathetic, Communicating effectively, listening actively, accepting your children, help them experience success, and disciplining to promote self worth.

I'm going to be bold enough to say while these sound great, they are impractical. How are these points going to help my child deal with job loss as an adult or even job evaluation? How are these points going to help my children deal with difficult people if they have always been raised with a soft hand and too much encouragement ? My husband and I are raising our 5 children to serve others, giving up their own wants for the happiness of others. We train them to obey us first and understand later. Which of these will help them get and hold down a job or serve their spouses in marriage? Does giving up your wants and learning to serve others help you to be resilient? I believe so. Being unselfish and not expecting every option in life to be a choice will certainly teach a child how to deal with adversity more than always expecting positive feel good outcomes.

The authors are anti-spanking, anti time out and pro logical consequences. This makes me conclude the advice in this book is directed to parents of school age children up through high school. Of course you can't spank older children yet you can't use logical consequences for toddlers. It is confusing to follow the advice these two psychiatrists put forth. I found myself wondering if these two men have children of their own and just how 'resilient' they turned out to be.

So to my readers, I would suggest reading a parenting book a little saltier than this one. Perhaps something by John Rosemond. he is one of my favorites!

Race to Nowhere

Race to Nowhere

by Irene Madrid

I recently attended a documentary film sponsored by the Burlingame Mother’s Club.

A bay area mother of three created this film because, as her children progressed in school, the homework, organized sports, and community activities took over their lives.

She noticed that family dinners were becoming rare and most interactions were related to questions about homework when the kids were home.

The children developed headaches, stomach pains and were often sleep deprived. Most horrifying of all, a beautiful 13 year old neighbor girl had committed suicide. Her parents said she showed no signs of problems. Her life was filled with piano and violin lessons, and much homework. She was always “doing”.

Many high school students were interviewed and it was evident these super achieving kids were highly stressed. They were plugged in for success but childhood happiness was severely lacking.

The admissions director of Cal-Berkeley noted that these high achievers were often in need of remedial English and Math. Kids studied to the test and quickly forgot what the information was all about.

One high school teacher pointed out that many European test scores were higher than ours but did less homework. Often teachers, filled with the joy of teaching, gave up after several years because they were simply teaching to the test.

Creative thinking and problem solving have no place in such a goal oriented system. Children don’t appreciate the joy of learning. Education becomes a product.

The difficulty of a materialistic culture is a daunting challenge. It will take time for parents and educators to make healthier changes. One solution is to limit homework to one or two days a week, and no homework on weekends or holidays. Another is to insist extra curricular activities be limited and work around the family dinner hour.

It will be a concrete effort but much more balanced for health and happiness in our children. As parents, keep vigilant about after school demands and join with others to save our children’s childhoods.

Kicking and Screaming

Hello, my name is Teacher Shannon and I have been working at our Half Moon Bay location for almost 15 years now, observing and swimming with many children. I have enjoyed every second of it and love to watch how children evolve over time in their experiences at our school. One of my favorite things to do is to help a fearful child learn to love the water. In doing this, there is always that fine line of knowing how much to push and when to hold them and give them that loving hug. I learned from Irene that children are a "different kid" each day as they are growing and navigating through their childhood. With this, I have also learned that parents do know their kid best.

My husband and I have one daughter, Ellie, who will be 13 years old at the end of this month. Ellie has been involved in after school sports and has been out of the pool for almost a year. We had a deal that once basketball season ended, she would head back to the pool and join the swim team again. Well...as Irene says, "They are a different kid each day", and I learned that it still applies to 12 year olds. When the day came for Ellie to head back to the outdoor pool in the middle of January (I am not that mean, the pool is heated), she was a different kid! She did not want to go and had every excuse in the book.

I asked the people in my life that love to swim for their opinions. I got all sorts of answers from "Don't push her" to "Make her do it"! I had to sit and think about my next step...Do I make her do it because as a teacher and a mom, I know all the health benefits of swimming? I know that the year she swam year-round she never caught pneumonia, which was usually a yearly illness of her's, (Ellie was born premature and her pediatrician has always recommended swimming to strengthen her lungs).

Well, I had to sit and take my own advice, "You know her best". Anytime Ellie wants to start something new, she can be slow to warm up or have fears until she actually does it. As a parent, knowing where that fine line is from pushing too hard and challenging your children to do things that they are not wanting to do, can be hard to see. I had flashes of my husband and I "making" her go down the water slide, kicking and screaming, only to have her come up with a huge smile asking to do it again. Or the time we "made" her get on Tower of Terror in Disneyland, scared out of her whits, and afterward we had to ride it six times in a row, she loved it so much!

So, as you can guess, although Ellie didn't want to go to swim team practice, the girl that got out of the car not wanting to go, was the happy kid swimming a beautiful freestyle ten minutes later. I know my child...but she can be a different kid every day .