My daughter had work today. She had two types of swimmers in her first class–beginning and non-swimming. The beginning swimmer was confident enough with his cube. The non-swimmers clung to her, scared they would drown.

These two little black children clung to my daughter, scared to death. She assured them they would be alright. They noticed her treading water in the deep end. “How do you do that? How do you keep your head above water?” they asked. She was taken aback. My daughter couldn’t remember when she didn’t know how to tread water. That’s just what you do in deep water.

I remember thinking that treading water was magical. My father thought so too, until he tried it, not knowing how. He almost drowned and took me with him. I’m glad my daughter is in lifeguard class, and I’m glad those children didn’t try to tread before they were ready.

I wonder when they will be ready to tread. I wonder if my daughter will be their teacher then.

Speaking of teachers, my husband and I are thinking of signing our 5 year old son up for private swim lessons. We want our daughter to teach them. We’ll let you know how that turns out.