You don’t need to fill up every precious minute of your child’s non-school time with an activity (it’s OK, really!), but chances are you may have your kids enrolled in one or two sports or lessons. What happens when the dreaded “Q” word comes up and your little ball of energy wants to quit an activity for a while? For the most part, you shouldn’t give in. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, continuing the activity can provide valuable skills and life lessons.
Here are 4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Take a Break from Swim Lessons, Sports and Other Activities
1. Progress Slides Downhill
Getting good at — or mastering — a skill is dependent upon repetition. The more you practice, the better you become. So, it makes sense that taking a break from repeating lessons stalls the learning process. And, unfortunately, time off can mean any progress will go sliding back downhill when those skills aren’t being used.
Moms, think about the last time you tried to do a French braid. If you’ve done it a lot recently, you’ll have it done in no time. But if haven’t done one in a few years, (even if you were very skilled at it way back when) it’ll probably take you some time to remember how — let alone do it spectacularly. So, just because your kids will still “know” what they’re doing, they won’t be as proficient as they once were if they’re not continuing to work on the skill (Which is why at Goldfish Swim School, we encourage you to get that Golden Experience and Keep Your Kids Enrolled in Swim Lessons).
2. A Break = Quitting
We know you may not intend to completely throw in the towel, but it happens. If you take a break from swim lessons, gymnastics, piano lessons and other extra-curricular activities, you run the risk of never returning. Whether it’s because of funding or because something else comes along and you don’t have the time anymore, it can happen. Luckily, swim lessons at Goldfish are only a half-an-hour a week; about the same amount of time as your child’s favorite TV show.
3. Quitting Reinforces Instant Gratification
When’s the last time you went to the toy store (or shopping mall) and your kids DIDN’T ask you to buy them something? We live in a society of now, now, NOW, so it’s bound to happen. But how do you help curb that (besides saying “NO” all the time)? It’s the little things, actually. For example, tell your kids that quitting swim lessons isn’t an option – and that they’ll see the fruits of their labor in time. That’s delayed gratification. It teaches kids the reward of sticking with something and not giving in to instant gratification. These are HUGE life lessons that will be far-reaching, all through childhood and the teen years — but especially as an adult — and some of the 4 Reasons to NOT Let Your Child Quit Swim Lessons.
4. Personal Bonds are Broken
It’s important for kids to feel like they’re a part of something and participating in extracurricular activities — whether swim classes, basketball, karate or dance — makes them part of a group. They’ll be building bonds with instructors (like ours who teach with integrity, compassion and trust) and other kids and those kinds of relationships can’t be replaced. The longer your child continues with lessons, the more included they will feel. And, surprise: This builds teamwork (a great life skill!), even in individual sports and activities, which is certainly something to celebrate.
Goldfish Swim School
Activities such as swim lessons are great for kids to do at any age — and Goldfish Swim School offers instruction with extraordinary results for kids ages 4 months and older! Sign up for a class near you today and see our WOW customer service!
