04:38 Jul 15 2008
Times Read: 949
As most of you know, I am a swim instructor. On Monday's and Wednesday's, I work as an Aide, helping out the instructors. On saturdays, I am the instructor.
Well, most instructors, on the first day of class, check to make sure that the kids they have, should be in that level of swimming. I mean you have to test them, to make sure they belong in the class you are teaching. You can't have a child that can't get back to the side, in a level 3 class that does laps in the deep end. Are you following me?
If the child isn't in the right class, the first day is the day to switch them around.
Ok...so....the Instructor that I aide to, for Level 3, didn't do any testing. Hence she didn't discover that she had one child, although he could do the strokes, wasn't strong enough, to be doing laps in the deep end. He should have been moved down for his size and endurance alone. Nope, she said she had seen him swim in open swim and he would be fine.
Onto Joel. Joel had no business in the deepend, simply because this child could not float on his back for 5 seconds. That is a basic requirement to pass the Pre-Beginner or Pre-Level 1 class. So, his mother comes up to me the first day and asked me how he did. I said, hold on let me get the instructor. I went looking for her. She was off talking to another instructor. I explained that Joels mother was wanting to know how he did. She went over to her mother and explained that she didn't think he belonged in Level 3 and we wanted to move him down to a Level 1, until he got better with his strokes.
The mother actually challenged us. Told us that he could indeed float on his back, he could indeed do front crawl, he could indeed do back crawl. Instead of sticking to her guns and saying, no he can't, we need to get him in another class, she said. Ok.
You know where that left me? With two people that I had to play lifeguard to in the deep end. The instructor told me that it was my responsibility to make sure they didn't drown in the deep end. Have you ever tried swimming between two kids, with just your legs because your hands are under both of them, trying to keep their heads above water? Welcome to my life as an aide. I spoke to the instructor yet again and said something had to be done. She just flitted away to work with the kids that deserved to be in level 3 and left me to figure out how to keep both these kids alive and get them to learn something. BUT TODAY WAS THE LAST STRAW....
The instructor told me to take Joel, he was mine for the day. She didn't tell me what to work on, she basically disguarded the kid into my hands. So I took him down to the shallow end, where he could touch. I taught him front crawl arms, I taught him side to side breathing. I taught him how to float on his back. He is up to like 10 seconds, but the trick now is adding the arms. We were doing good, making progress, especially with the one on one attention. A couple of the classes, passed us in the shallow end, as it was time to get out. One of the instructors said, there was 3 minutes left in the class.
So, I had joel swim one lap of backstroke, telling him the main thing is not to stop and to arch his back and keep his bellybutton out of the water. It took a good 5 minutes to get across half the pool, but he was trying. So, I looked down in the shallow end where his mother was, with Parents and tots and noticed they were preparing to get out. I set Joel up on the side. He asked me if he could walk down to be with his mother when she got out. I said sure and watched him walk down and sit down on the side of the wall, waiting patiently for his mother. I watched as his mother approached him and picked him up and put him in the water, while his tiny tot of a brother had a temper tantrum sitting on the side of the pool. ()__() omg ....
At that point, I heard a double whistle, which indicates that someone is injuried and it was one of the kids in my other class, the one with the instructor. She was holding him in the water, so I swam over to her quickly to see if she needed help. As we lifted the injured kid out of the pool, I happen to look at the pool. (habit from when I was a lifeguard). Guess who is working his way around to the 9 foot section of the pool. Yup, Joel. Apparently his mother wanted to play some more in the pool and sent him back to us. She sent him from 3 feet of water, to 9 feet of water. ALONE!!!!
WHY? "I know he can swim, so I told him to rejoin his class for the last minute."
*Rolls her eyes* And if something would have happen to him, it would have been my ass. I would have lost my job. Doesn't matter that he shouldn't have been in the Level 3 class anyways, doesn't matter that he is the INSTRUCTOR's responsibility, not mine. I am just an Aide, I am not to have responsibility of any kind, but to keep an eye on the class, demonstrate strokes and help teach the strokes. No where in my job description does it say, babysit a child because the instructor can't be bothered with him.
He was in the arms of his mother at the end of class. SHE sent him over to us in the deep end. She told him to swim over, didn't tell him to walk around to us. All because she can't get it through his thick head that HE CAN'T SWIM!!!!
So, at the end of class the Mother comes up to the Instructor, wondering why Joel came to her at the end of the class? Guess what, apparently its against policy to send the kids to the parents, the parents are suppose to pick up the kids. Yeah and you know what this mother would do, snag him as we were changing positions in the pool, (going from shallow to deep, by walking around) and I would be looking for a kid on the bottom of the pool because all of a sudden this kid would disappear.
The Instructor then took me to the side and reamed me for putting the facility in danger and Joel in danger by sending him to his mother.
I'm in a "damned if I do, Damned if I don't" situation. No matter what I did, the situation was simply fucked up and it pisses me off that I would have gotten in trouble for this mother, who was idiotic enough to send her 7 year old, to swim alone, from 3 feet to 9 feet.
Because this Instructor doesn't have the balls to say, then sorry he can't be in this class because he becomes a safety issue.
Basically if this kid had drowned tonight, it would have been my fault, I am told. Doesn't matter the circumstances that led up to it, it would have been my fault.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
COMMENTS
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EmoDemon
19:35 Jul 30 2008
He tried to cyber with me by saying "kisses you" but then I said for him not to do it because my heart is taken and well yea... He was telling me that he had a crush on me etc. etc..
Freak alert much?
LadyChordewa
20:31 Jul 30 2008
Jens
22:32 Jul 30 2008
Undesirables irritate me. I will stay vigilant and watch out for this creep.
queenmorbid
04:15 Aug 01 2008
That idiot will never learn. He came by under his last sn to bother me and pretend like he was his own brother and start crap. He will go away for awhile, and unfortunately, always comes back to aggravate us again.