HOW I TAUGHT MY SON HOW TO SWIM

Before I go in to this, first, evaluate the temperament of your child or the child you will teach.
IF he or she is very timid , then choose a different approach.
My son has never been afraid of anything EXCEPT a pair of geese. and that was it. He was 4 or 5 then.
Anyways, what happened was that we had gone back into Mexico and for some dumb reason they would not let us back out for a while. So that forced me to have to leave him and his Mother there while I came and worked here for a time. ( Things we do for our families needs ). Anyways, while I was here I had purchased a nice Chevy Pickup.  Things were going good for a time, but then I suddenly started having dreams of my son and I going hunting for ducks down by the river.
In my dream I had shot a duck and it fell down on the bank by the river and my son ran down to the edge of the river to gather the duck . The river was always shallow but for some reason in my dream it became deep and in my dream he tripped and fell in. I ran down and jumped in and I could see him sinking with his little hand stretched out with fear in his eyes as he was sinking out of sight away from me. I was swimming as hard as I could trying to reach him but it was like swimming in honey. VERY THICK. He disappeared from out of sight and I lost him. I would wake up at that time with my chest hurting from the fear and desperation and the grief over the loss of my son and the total frustration and anger at being totally helpless to save him. THIS DREAM I HAD MORE THAN ONCE. it happened several times. I made up my mind to go back into Mexico to teach him how to swim. REASON ????  We had a river on one side of our house and a large canal on the other. The problem was, that there was a lot of water in that canal and there was two telephone post laid across and bound together for a bridge and that it got real slippery when it got wet . it was wet all the time from the kids swimming and jumping off of it into the canal. WORSE YET,,, it was the shortest route to the store which I found out that they ( my wife's family ) would send my son to buy cokes and things for them. If he had fallen, he would have drowned. SO I SOLD MY TRUCK and bought a small car and used the rest to go into Mexico. When I got there and as soon as I got there I asked my son if he wanted to go swimming and of course he said yes. We got ready and went to the canal. Standing on the posts I asked my son,, Son ! What would you do if you fell in ? He said, I'd swim !
I said , Swim then and nudged him off of the posts and into the water and then immediately jump to the other side of him because the current would carry him downstream and out of my reach if I waited. It was only up to my chest in depth but to him it was over his head. He went down , then came up , went down then came up went down once more then came up. I grabbed him and asked him, SON ! what would you do if you fell in ? He said, I'd swim. I said once more, SWIM THEN and let him go. He went down and came up then he went down once more, then came up. I grabbed him again and asked, SON ! what would you do if you fell in ? And he said, I WOULD DROWN. I said, NOW I WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO SWIM.... Before the day was over he was swimming very well. You see , When he thought he could do something, he had no fear or respect for the situation. but once he realized that he could not, he gained a respect for the situation and paid close attention to me and learned fast. I NEVER HAD ANOTHER DREAM ON THAT MATTER..
KNOW YOUR CHILD, LOVE YOUR CHILD,TEACH YOUR CHILD. BE HIS PARENT, BUT ABOVE ALL SHOW HIM OR HER THAT YOU ARE THEIR FRIEND AS WELL.