Overcoming Ear Infection Fear

Despite enjoying swimming class overall, Dexter has been the only one in his class who has had serious trouble floating on his back (with the teacher holding on to him!). She tries to coax his head back but his body gets rigid and contorted trying to keep the back of his head from resting on top of the water. As Dexy and I were walking home from his last lesson, I suggested that we practice back-floating in the bathtub. He was really excited about the idea. "I love putting my ears under the water in the bathtub!" Hmmmm. "Is that what you don't want to do in the pool? Put your ears in the water?" I asked. "Yes, but it's OK in the tub." Later, as I was putting him into bed, I mentioned practicing floating on his back in the tub again and he said, "In the tub I can't get ear infections but in the pool I can get an ear infection and ear infections really hurt." I finally realized that he was talking about his friend Ian's experience with ear infections in the pool.

During the past academic quarter, Elissa had been watching Dexy so that I could attend a weekly research lab. It happened to be on days when Ian had swimming lessons so Elissa would bring Dexy along and they would watch Ian's lessons. Apparently Dexy had lots of questions about why Ian was the only one wearing "things in his ears" and Elissa explained that Ian gets ear infections. When I realized that Dexy was worried about putting his ears in the water, I assured him that he wasn't likely to get an ear infection from the pool. The next day when I recounted this story to Elissa, as soon as I said "ear infection" she knew where it had come from. She was adorably apologetic and immediately called Dexy on the phone to explain that not everyone gets ear infections and that he should try to put his ears in the water in the pool.  Dex agreed to try in his next class.

Lucky for us, Elissa is a hugely influential person in Dexy's life - he really listens to her and wants to make her proud of him.  Lucky for us, Elissa is also a kind, thoughtful, and caring person - exactly the type of person you want to be influential in your child's life. Dexy really enjoyed practicing floating on his back in the tub. We'll see how it goes at his next swimming class.