Swim school owners and swimming instructors are familiar with
the parent who wants his/her child to progress faster. She
pushes the child to do things before he is ready. The child gets
frustrated. The instructor gets frustrated. The parent is
frustrated. What to do? Ask the parent if she is a swimmer. To
get the answer, you wouldn't ask like that, however. You might
ask this way: M'am, let's talk about Johnny's progress. If you
were in the middle of the deep end of the pool right now, would
you be comfortable? She looks dismayed and says no. Now you
know: Mother cannot swim: Mother does not understand the process
of learning to swim. This is why she is pushing her son. You
say, "Johnny is doing really well. He's made very good progress
since he began. When he learned to walk, did you push him to run
before he was stable on his feet?" Mother says no, of course
not. You say, "In the same way, we cannot ask him to learn
faster than he's learning. Nothing is missing from his process.
By the way, do you have a de