This is a quick update to my daughter's swimming challenges which I wrote about in Letting your child fail.

The first day of swimming with clothes came. We had chosen her clothes carefully, some tighter fitting old clothes that wouldn't add too much weight and drag. And also a set of shoes that wouldn't absorb too much water. I'm sure every parent was doing the same!

The stuff that she had to wear was: shorts, underwear, singlet, short sleeved shirt, shoes and socks. It's a lot for a little girl to swim in!

_{It's a fake video!}

As the day was coming up, we were subtly preparing her and ourselves for the potential disappointment if she wasn't allowed to progress in the swimming diploma. We did spend lots of time as a family going to the pool and just getting her to enjoy swimming and not thinking of it as something big.

On the day, I made sure to plonk myself somewhere where she could easily see me. It's amazing how nervous you can get for someone else. I'm a musician, so I know how to deal with nerves for myself, but when it is someone else that you care about....

In the end, she was great! She coped with the new situation with aplomb, taking it all in her stride and managing to swim with all that gear on. We shouldn't have worried so much, but I'm sure all that time we spent practicing was still useful. The exam itself is in a few weeks, hopefully she can do it again, but the first time hurdle is now behind us.

I was the proudest father when she managed, but she didn't see what the big deal was all about! Instead, she was so more much interested in telling me about this hairy caterpillar (rups in Dutch), because she was learning all about insects at school!