Reply to Opting out of swimming unit in PE

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think you’re making the right decision OP. If it makes her that uncomfortable and affects her for the rest of the day, it’s not worth dealing with the hassle. [b]I don’t get why people think children should trudge through every uncomfortable thing they dislike doing because that’s how it’s always been done and they prefer not to make waves when there are easier options available. [/b]Sometimes they have to suck it up and do it, and maybe it builds character, but sometimes [b]we don’t need to unnecessarily inconvenience ourselves[/b] and there are lessons to be learned in that too. [/quote]

Inconvenience?

The question is: If one parent gets to decide that something in the school curriculum is "inconvenient" and "uncomfortable," why stop there? All parents could argue that aspects of school requirements are inconvenient or uncomfortable for their children.  OP does not seem to understand, or isn't willing to try to understand, that her perfect arguments against her daughter doing the swimming unit are the same arguments other parents could make about it. Her DD is not the only girl who ever did this unit at the school, who did it with long hair that would probably stay damp, who didn't like the boys seeing her in a bathing suit. But all those things (plus: A teacher unrelated to this PE class is tough this year!) add up to making her DD unique and therefore deserving of an exception that at any normal school would be made only for medical reasons.

My DC is unique and special and deserving of all good and convenient things too. And I guess I could pull her out of the things she finds embarrassing, or would have to "trudge through," or should not have to take because she is [i]already so very good [/i] at them (OP's daughter is already such a good swimmer! She will learn nothing from this PE unit!). But when those things are part of school and are TEMPORARY -- like this six-week swimming unit which will be over soon enough -- I don't choose that battle. OP clearly is spoiling for it, though.

Kids should not have to "trudge through every uncomfortable thing they dislike doing" if we're talking about signing up for the same sport or scout group or other extracurricular they have done year after year and want to quit. That, I understand. But this isn't like that. OP wants her great swimmer to get to sit out a class because of her hair.

What happens next year in PE? And the year after that? And in English class, if DD is an English superstar and wants to be let off doing some assignments because they're so dull to her and she learns nothing from them? Where does that end? [/quote]

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