This is going to be a overly-simplistic post; but I need to know that I am not just siding with my 'only' DS5, and his bad behavior. Background...he has been in swimming lessons for a year now at a local swim club. He went from not wanting to lay on his back to float (for safety) to swimming a lap (slowly). He is currently working on perfecting his strokes and breathing properly. He is not a strong kid; so we like that he likes this and want him to continue swimming year-round. He runs really fast and plays soccer; but his upper body strength has always been lacking. Anyway, he loves swimming; but his current teacher gets stressed easily. He is very sensitive to stressful people (one of the reasons that we homeschool). If he says 'no' to her, usually because he is tired, she automatically sends him to a "timeout," which we don't do at home. He "earns" and is given choices to get him to do something we want; but he is generally compliant. If you act disappointed in him, he cries and the situation worsens. The teacher does this often. She does a lot of deep-sighing with him. He just wants to have fun while he is doing his laps. She just isn't that way. She is very direct and matter-of-fact. He is a strong-willed kid; but a very sweet child, especially now that his behavior is based on mutual respect here at home. The first teacher who got him to do something - which was a challenge, had to have fun with him and give him short breaks of splashing. The next class he was in, he was the best behaved in class. DS needed to be pursuaded initially to learn to swim; but he had to since we have a pool. He has had different teachers as he progressed, some good, out-of-the-box thinkers, and others, not so much. The teachers changed as he progressed through the levels. I want to pull him from class; and maybe switch teachers and/or swim schools. I have had to re-explain his sensitivities every few months with each new teacher (if they weren't getting him). I do not want him to think that he can say "no" to these teachers, and switch teachers to get his way. But I do believe that he is just feeding off of her negativity; and I do want him to have fun AND be respectful. He has had good teachers who he responds extremely well to; so I am thinking that it's just not him. Should I pull him from this teacher/school, or should I just make him bear it. I want him to continue to like it. He used to REALLY enjoy it - now it is iffy. Sorry that this is so long, and not about real school; but I feel like they don't understand that his sensitivites are real. I do understand that he needs to get used to all sorts of teaching styles; but I do want him to continue to like it. I would bring him elsewhere and would have to go through the same thing all over again. Please be blunt with me. Thanks.
