His first promotion

You know, the blog I wrote yesterday about how I had to run an errand that day, so I had to cut the beach short by two hours!
That errand was taking Fionn to swimming school.

I decided to enrol him as he was at his last trial lesson, so he could use one more lesson this month.
Just this week there was a test because it’s the last week of July. (Seems like the last week of every month is a test.)

I’m sure there should be some kind of explanation on what they need to do in order to advance to the next level.
I didn’t get it when I enrolled him, so I was looking at it without really understanding it.
Then Fionn came out of the pool and said, “I passed! I passed! ” Surprise!

I looked at the contents carefully and found out that he passed the 30th grade.
He can put his face in the water! Well, that’s enough to pass the test!

By the way, the 30th grade medallion is made of fabric that are to be sewn on the swimming cap.
So, if you have a lot of these on your swimming hat, that means you’ve been promoted a lot!

He was so proud of himself and said happily, “I could do everything! I could do everything!
I’m so glad that we were able to give him a start that will lead to such confidence and motivation.
It’s important to have a system like this! When you get praised and achieve something, your motivation goes through the roof!

I don’t know if it was the times or if my school was just into hard training (we call it “spartan” in Japan), but the swimming school I went to threw me in screaming and I swam while I felt like I was drowning.
When I was in pain and tried to grab the course rope, my parents would grab a long-handled deck brush and hold the rope away from me.
It was not fun, just a painful school that would be talked about on social media and reported if it existed today.

Once I was able to swim, we practiced for time, and I think we swam 3,000 or 4,000 meters a day, even though I was in elementary school.
I was made to swim every day, even during summer vacation, and my grandparents felt sorry for us.

Compared to that, the coaches at Fionn`s current school are very kind, and he can learn in a relaxed and fun way!
As a result, he can swim now, and I’m grateful for that, but I’m still traumatized by those years of swimming!!