The Learning Curve

Yesterday we were at the swimming pool for our preschooler's first swimming class. The coach was nice and gentle and the class seemed to be going well just when my daughter decided she doesn't want to learn swimming anymore. We spent all our time outside the pool squeezing water out of a fish toy while other 5 kids were moving ahead in the class. As a person I understood her fear and felt that she will do it when she feels it right but the parent in me found it hard to see other kids flapping their arms and legs in water and enjoying every bit of it while my kid was just sitting. I was so wrong in that last bit. She was not just sitting there, she was dealing with the fear and the insecurity, she was going through the chagrin of not being able to perform well as her peers. She was bewildered by the antithesis of her desire and inability, desire to jump in the sparkling blue water and her inability to let go of the fear. Her mind was perplexed by the trust all other children could display while she was fiddling with her confidence. She was growing up right there while I was being a baby who was adamant to just see the performance for which she bought the ticket.
I was a grown up before I had my daughter, she is helping me evolve.