Swimming does my daughter have to do it?

Sympathise with your dd as I hated the whole games thing quite often. But, what doesnt kill you makes you stronger!
Does she really need to be excused from this? I had hideous asthma but still batteled on at games in a vile skirt and aertex that didnt get washed from one term to the next. I am scared to say it but perhaps its a bit character forming having to do things you are not keen on.

Dd tells me hair gel is banned at her secondary. Makes sense in context of chemistry lessons etc.

to be fair, WouldYouCouldYouWithAGoat suggested the swimcap, and she deserves the thanks not me - I just wondered why you were ignoring her! but actually, I do use one on my own mop of wild wiry curls (I swim on my way to work most days) and it is absolutely fine. I am perhaps less preoccupied with other people's opinions of my swimcap than you and your dd seem to be though.

also agree with Brangelina re the lenses - I got contacts specifically so I could go snorkelling and diving, with goggles there's no problem.

if she just hates swimming that's fair enough, of course, but these are flimsy reasons to object to it

It's a brilliant life lesson to teach a young girl, isn't it? That her Mum thinks preserving her appearance should come before doing activities. And then they wonder why women are still not equal with men

A girl I knew failed her last year at school because she was late every morning due to needing to spend so long in front of the mirror. Her Mum seemed to think it was reasonable . She has since pulled herself up by her bootstraps but it's been hard work.

I can sympathise with your DD as I would have been the same at her age had my school had a pool, in fact I hated PE as I was crap at it and also worried I'd break a nail
However, my Mum told me tough shit I had to do it and that was that, it was a good life lesson, we have to do things we don't want to, that's the way it is.

If DD is the same as me, I will sympathise with her but there will be no notes or asking if she can sit it out, she'll learn the same lesson that I did, I'll jsut be a bit nicer about it than what my Mum was.

Why doesn't she tie her hair back into plaits after swimming? This will totally prevent any frizzing.

All the girls at my school have to have their hair tied back at all times. It doesn't kill them.

Teach her that there are more important things than looks. It's an important lesson and somethng that a 13 year old can definitely cope with.

(as an aside - as a Chem teacher, I would be very concerned with girls having lots of hair products on. I wouldn't let them near my bunsens).

why wouldn't swimming lessons be fun ?

Swim lesson fun?
Weekend swimming is fun.
We never did swimming at school even though we had a pool.
All 3 schools come to think of it. Only did swimming in first school.
Never did cooking either. which is probably why i can't really cook these days.

You don't need prescription goggles, normal goggles will do. Make sure you get a good pair that remain watertight in the pool. I swim, windsurf and dive with my lenses in and have never had any problems.

As for the hair, I used to have very curly hair and in the days before serum I just used to tie it back tightly. No faffing about with styling. Just tell her to slather the frizz-ease on and she'll be fine.

Am a bit at these excuses, there is a solution to everything if you put your mind to it. If she's so worried about her appearance tell her frizzy hair is better than cellulite any day.

most of my girls wear shorts and vest tops over their swim suit, once they become more confident they tend to take them off, why dont you suggest that to the school, is it body issues she has or just she doesnt want to get her hair messy.

boys at ds' school had to wear swimming hats too

I had to wear brown knickers for PE too but it was hardly nightmareworthy you are being a bit precious, no ?

We had to wear a swimming cap when we did swimming at school.

plus there are hair products she could use before swimming to keep her hair flat and tamed if it really is such a problem - I'd tell her to forget her hair and get in the pool and have fun

A swim cap is worn not to keep hair dry but for 2 major reasons 1. to keep hair out of face. 2. hair clogs the filter system in pools, if the filters become clogged, the pool has to be shut to fix and puts the pool out of action, plus it costs a lot of money to fix. I would expect the teacher could not force your daughter to take part in swimming, but i bet there will be a detention letter sent home. Get your dd to tie her hair back into a pony tail or plats, this is what most of my afro carabean/african girls do, to stop afro becoming wild. Not one of them has ever complained about hair, to the extent that they will not get in the pool.

she is so lucky to have a pool at school it would be a very sad thing not to use it - as WouldYouCouldYou suggested she could wear a swimming hat and prescription goggles or just tie her hair up -

Why not tell her to have a hair cut? I can't believe that you would want your dd to learn that styling her hair is so important that the school needs to replan their PE programme accordingly.

I also have a dd at secondary. The moment she comes home and tells me that keeping her current hairstyle intact is so important that the teacher needs to have empathy...well, my dd knows what's good for her. She won't.

Why not tell her to have a hair cut? I can't believe that you would want your dd to learn that styling her hair is so important that the school needs to replan their PE programme accordingly.

I also have a dd at secondary. The moment she comes home and tells me that keeping her current hairstyle intact is so important that the teacher needs to have empathy...well, my dd knows what's good for her. She won't.

Hope someone comes on with some good suggestions for you, FL.
seems like everyone tonight wants to shoot people down.
nice huh.

Do you not think that being able to swim is an extremely important life skill?