Couple Got Into A Fight Over Their Child’s Swim Lessons, And One Of Them Was Left High And Dry

Benjamin Cottrell

5 days ago

Source: Pexels/Oleksandr P, Reddit/AITA

Parenting is full of choppy waters.

When this couple waded into a fight over their child’s swim lessons, one of them left the pool in a huff.

Let’s dive in.

AITA for insisting my five-year-old should be allowed to play in the pool when he’s done with swimming lessons for the day?

We have a newly five-year-old and almost three-year-old twins. They just had their first swim lesson Saturday at our pool. (We can see it from our house.)

My husband suggested that we go swimming today. I got everything together and packed the wagon, and we headed to the pool.

Turns out not everyone was on the same page about the agenda.

When we got there, my husband told our five-year-old that he was going to be doing lessons again with him. Our five-year-old thought we were just going to the pool to play.

Dad got in the water with our oldest and gave him instructions, which he followed all at least once.

This included getting his face wet, putting his face underwater, kicking his legs off the side, doing monkey crawls, etc. There were some things he didn’t want to do at first, so he cried, but he still did them at least once.

Then the mom noticed something odd.

I was playing with our twins on the other side of the pool, and I noticed our oldest was sitting out of the water and looking sad.

I asked my husband what was wrong, and he said our son didn’t want to learn anymore today. So I asked why isn’t he in the pool to play? He said our son won’t be playing in the pool anymore until he learns how to swim.

Now, our five-year-old plays in the pool without a floaty, stays on the stairs, can touch the bottom, but has to stay out of the deep end. (We watch him, of course, to ensure his safety.) He plays just fine in the pool and can have fun outside of learning how to swim.

Here’s where the trouble started.

My husband is ticked off at me because when he told me our son was not allowed to swim anymore, I said that wasn’t fair.

I told everyone to get out of the pool, got the twins out, packed up the wagon, and we went home.

There was no yelling or arguing. I simply said “I disagree,” and, “I don’t think that’s fair.”

He said he didn’t care, and all I care about is being right.

Now, my husband can’t stand to be in the same room with me, refuses to eat lunch with me, and wants nothing to do with me.

He’s that angry.

What could have led to this?

This isn’t something we discussed beforehand.

He just decided on his own that our five-year-old isn’t allowed to swim unless he’s taking lessons or has fully learned how to swim.

I’m very confused because, at this point, I don’t see the point in going to the pool at all unless it’s for lessons.

It just doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend the summer when we pay for a pool and have fun pool toys.

When we were packing up, he sat there and told our son that his 60+ year-old grandmother never learned how to swim and is afraid of water now to justify his reasoning.

AITA for insisting my five-year-old should be allowed to play in the pool even if he’s not actively taking swimming lessons?

Who knew a kid’s swim lessons could cause such a rift?

Let’s see what Reddit made of all of this.

Maybe someone else should teach the lessons, after all.