Make kids stop crying?

Question

I am doing volunteer work at the pool i work at/swim for by helping out with the 6 and under age group. How do i make them stop crying and listen...i just feel like slapping them upside of the head but i don't want to get into it with any of the parents. help??

Answer 1

The children are crying because they are scared and you want to slap them upside the head? I would strongly suggest you work with an older age group or volunteer in another area. Young children need guidance and support, especially to overcome their fears. They can sense your impatience and this is probably fueling their fear. Remember that you already know how to swim. They don't. Their fears are not irrational.

You need to review your course plan and find a way to make your class more appealing to the children. Take baby steps with them. Ask the other instructors for advice.

And please don't go near my kids :)

Answer 2

...Why the h**l are they crying?

Answer 3

maybe you should be working ther if they make you mad,or if your making them cry

Answer 4

that sounds like a horrible place to learn to swim if everyone is crying...it's all about confidence and your JOB is to help them be confident....ask them what they can do (kids love to show off if asked) even if it is only sitting on the step and praise praise praise before they start crying...once one starts then it is a chain reaction as it will make the others all wonder what the h**l is going on.  I'm not sure what kind of swim school your at but with all of my 3 kids taking lessons I have never seen any child crying.

Answer 5

Maybe you are in the wrong line of work.GET A NEW JOB

Answer 6

LOL!  I remember when my daughter took swimming lessons at age 4-5.  Half the kids in the pool were crying!  Most children this age are not all that comfortable in the water without their parents.

First of all, the kids are probably sensing your impatience, and they are afraid to be with you in the water.  If you want to keep your job, you should make an effort to display more patience and understanding of these very small children.

Second, some of the children may not be ready for swimming lessons yet, and they should not be forced;  otherwise, they will hate the water, and it will actually impede their ability to learn to swim.   My daughter was not ready at age 4, so I took her out of the swim program.  We tried again when she was five, and she LOVED it, and did so much better.  

You are just volunteering here.  If you don't have patience with little children, find some other volunteer project.  But if you want to stick with it, you should talk to the person in charge of the swim program about ways you could make the kids feel more comfortable in the pool.

Answer 7

Figure out why they are crying and attempt to remedy the situation that way, it is also possible they are picking up on your discontent. Maybe you are not cut out to have a job with such young children. If you slap one of them you are looking for more trouble than just a pissed off parent, you are looking at legal action and possible jail time.

Answer 8

My son cried through most of his first and only set of swimming lessons -- and he had a good teacher, who was kind, thoughtful, and patient. I say "most of", because when he wasn't crying he was scared stiff and couldn't even speak.

He loves water; he loves playing in it -- but his great grandmother died by accidentally drowning 1 year earlier, and he was terrified to go into a pool on someone else's terms. It didn't help that in order to seem playful and funny, the first thing the teacher ever did with them was squirt them all with a big hose... while he cried.

The point is you do not know the children you are working with; you have no idea what their history is, and you cannot expect them all to feel fine about being put in a loud, smelly (some kids are VERY sensitive to the chlorine) pool and told to do things that scare the h**l out of them by someone who they not only don't know, but who is obviously irritated with them. It's not a good way to build self esteem, or to make them want to try swimming, or to EVER treat a child.

I agree that you should get a different job. But if that's not an option, please try to consider that these are human beings. They are not crying because they're rude or ignorant or "willful"; they're crying because they're scared silly, and they need some compassion.

Support them, don't demean them. And instead of telling them what to do, ASK them how they're feeling and what they want to do. You can't MAKE people learn; you can only make them want to learn. And that takes kindness and compassion.

PS: If, after you have attempted to reach out to the kids who are having a hard time, given them space to sit and wait, given them support and encouragement and a kind word, etc... if then they are still too scared/sad to participate, talk to their parents about it. Maybe they need to swim with their parents for a while before the lesson begins.

And also... if other children in the pool are crying, it's possible that you can teach what you've learned about compassion to other volunteers, too.

Answer 9

good luck maybe get some little water toys and try to show them the water is not so scary... Or get a different type job that don't involve children if you dislike the kids so much

Answer 10

Where do you get the idea that you should "make" a child stop crying?  Your question implies lack of understanding and compassion of small children.  I think you need to get out of that work and so something else if all you can think about is wanting to "make" a crying kid stop, and even have these feelings of slapping the kid.  Jee wiz

Also I want to add that the parents should be watching while their child is at the lesson.  If their child is not going to cooperate, then it's up to the parent to deal with them...not the pool staff.  Either way, patience and compassion has to be present for these little ones, or they just might develop a bad memory of swimming.  This is easy to avoid when you can take your mind off of yourself.

Answer 11

itz time to quit!

Answer 12

I suggest you find some other form of work because obviously you have no business working with children.

Answer 13

Tell them Jesus punishes children who cry.