Anyone had terrible experience with water babies ?

[meditereb]

I am fuming !! My son has sensory issues he is 18 months so not excactly diagnosed but quite obvious to me ! He usually wants to hAve his hands full holding something . We were in the water and he wanted to hold a ball so i gave him one to calm him down as he was becoming hysterical . The instructor came over and ask me to put it back as the other babies will want one too . The other babies didnt even notice he was holding a ball and were happily following the class . She then took the ball from him obviously he became hysterical and started arching his back crying and just wouldnt follow the class after that . I took him out and we went home i am obviously not going back and i called the centre for a refund . No refunds as the toddlers need to follow the class excactly and adhere to the instrucions and they back there highly trained instructors 100%
Aibu to think they shouldnt be so rigid with their fucking class ?

I always found them understanding and sympathetic with my DS. I suspect he's ASD but they were really flexible with what he needed to keep him happy and kept within his capabilities. He's now 5 and swimming widths independently and has been put into classes of 7 year olds for lessons at a public pool.

Talk to the teacher and the other parents and see how they feel and if they can help?

I always found them really helpful, sorry.

18 month olds can’t be expected to always follow instructions. Some days they’ll object to following any! The instructor might be good at teaching kids to swim but I doubt they also have child development qualifications otherwise they wouldn’t be so rigid about toddlers and rules. Maybe ask them about that and suggest their “rule” isn’t suitable for a toddler program?

Sorry you had to go through this.

I think it depends a lot on the teacher. Some of them are great and others are not. We had an amazing baby swimming teacher and then tried a different class that had a not so good teacher.

If you have a child with higher needs then all the more important to make sure you are only around inclusive, supportive people and avoid people who don't get it.

It's definitely not your fault.

Had you explained to the instructor previously that your son potentially has sensory issues, OP?
If not, no it wasn't the instructor's fault for trying to avoid other toddlers being distracted or upset. I don't think it's fair to write them off if you hadn't had that conversation.

YANBU, there is a toddler in our class who is having a water wobble, so if they get upset the parent takes them to play with some toys at the side. Everyone else gets on with it, and none of the other children want toys while this is happening either. However it isn't water babies, it's a more local company.

I can see the instructors point, the classes are planned out and having a parent decide their child should have a toy can mess that up or distract other babies. I totally get just wanting to keep your baby calm- goodness the meltdowns DD has thrown in her time! Maybe if you'd spoken to the instructor instead of just taking the ball they could have helped manage it in a way everyone was comfortable with.

It's been a couple of years since we did water babies but when a baby/toddler in DDs class had a water wobble the instructor would give them a toy to keep them calm or distract them and they were always really patient and got the little one interested again.