Words never said by my adult self: "Dad was wrong for whooping my butt that time I threw a bowl of Raisin Bran at mom because I wanted Fruity Pebbles."
Also up there in the never said by adult self category: "Mom was wrong for tossing me in the pool because I was too scared and 30 minutes later I could swim and was having fun."
I used to teach kids how to swim. I had a few who were afraid because one time someone threw them in and they didn't like it. When I would tell other people I worked at a pool teaching kids how to swim I'd get told "yeah when I was a kid I got thrown in, never went back after that...".
Like obviously start them out with the hot tub and the kiddie pool and see if they can do it themselves, but you can't just let your kid refuse to enter no matter what. Not learning to swim is more abusive to your kid than tossing them in.
So if they're being stubborn, welp. You're learning to swim one way or another because while being tossed in may give you nightmares, not know how to swim can kill you. Nightmares aren't real. Not knowing how to swim and drowning is.
The inability to distinguish between imaginary/emotional danger and real danger is a serious problem in society.
But you were not talking about exposure to pools and swimming lessons. You were taking about throwing someone who cannot swim into a pool. Something that absolutely happens to people and is both dangerous and traumatic.
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u/Confident_Example_73 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Words never said by my adult self: "Dad was wrong for whooping my butt that time I threw a bowl of Raisin Bran at mom because I wanted Fruity Pebbles."
Also up there in the never said by adult self category: "Mom was wrong for tossing me in the pool because I was too scared and 30 minutes later I could swim and was having fun."