Motherhood should be listed as a mental illness

To push or not to push

That is the question we are facing with Isabella and swimming.
Yesterday we had swim lessons and I expected that she would be OK since I was going to be in the pool with her, boy was I wrong! She was fine until we walked into the locker room and I told her to get her suit on. That's when she started crying, she cried all the way down the hall, she cried on the pool deck, she cried on the edge of the pool, she cried in the pool while holding on to my neck for dear life. When I say she cried you should know that it wasn't a quiet cry, it was a everyone is looking at you and wondering what the hell is going on cry. Swim lessons last for 40 minutes, she cried for about 36 of those. At one point we had to sit them on the side of the pool and step back and let them jump in (they had swim belts on) but my wonderful child decided it was her chance to run to the locker room so I had to heave myself out of the water to go get her in front of about 50 people, all of them behind me. I talked to the swim director and her instructor again and they said just to let her go at her on speed in the pool but to not let her get her way by taking her out of swim lessons. I'm fine with that, I'm just afraid that she will scare some of the younger kids in the class with the screaming. The instructor, Linda, offered to see her on Fridays after she's done teaching private lessons just to work on getting her more comfortable in the pool. So we will be there next Friday doing that. I know that most of the crying isn't from fear, it's to get her own way. I can tell the difference and it changed about 20 minutes into the lesson.
We're actually hearing a lot of crying lately. Everything is changing for her, she's getting to the point where she doesn't always need a nap but sometimes she really does and she thinks she can stay up. EVERYTHING she is told to do is a power struggle. Eating, bedtime, TV time (at this very moment she is crying for TV time), playing outside, playing inside, what to wear, telling Patton what to do, telling Patrick and I what to do, telling her friends what to do. Even going to the bathroom (about 15 minutes ago she said she had a tummy ache and I told her to go potty and she says she doesn't need to go, but I know she hasn't been since last night so I picked her up and put her on the toilet. She went.) and washing her hands! You name it, it is currently, has been or about to be a power struggle in this house.
I have to go break up a fight.

posted by Cathy @ 8:57 AM