My little swimmer not focusing (duh) | ADHD Information

My dd (age 6) is in 1st grade and according to her teacher, doing well.
So, I was happy when Jillian made the developmental swim team at the
local Y. This is a team for kids who need to work on stroke development,
endurance, etc before joining the actual team when they are a little older.

After practice yesterday (which is after school and after her meds wear
off) one of her coaches said Jillian was having a hard time focusing and
was playing in the water instead of listening. She told me they may move
her off the team and into plain old swim lesssons. I made the mistake of
telling Jillian this (as in "You need to pay attention or they're going to
make you take swim lessons and you won't be on the team." Not my
proudest moment as a mom.) and she got upset. She wasn't crying or
anything, just acted angry and told us that she is "dumb".   Broke my
heart.   

Anyway, I know many of you have posted about sports and your children's
struggles...I just was feeling like we had a handle on this ADHD thing, but
now I am doubting it. Sorry to vent. It's just one of those things.          ; Sorry, no one has posted sooner. With ADHD, there are many ups and downs but as time goes on we learn to put the emphasis on the good days and the goal is to have more good days than not.. Your reaction and feelings are normal as something we act out of frustration so try not to beat yourself up. Like anyone else, your child will have not so good days and when we raise of expectations too high, we become disheartened. As humans, we all have bad days. Maybe your child had an off day. How has she been doing? Please update when you can. Hugs to youThe olympic swimmer Phelps has ADHD and I read an article that he used to do this same thing -- not listen and just play in the water...

There's another perspective too you've probably considered...if you child likes to swim, it may just be that she is not ready for the regimentation, robotic workouts that most swim team coaches demand (because the same was demanded of them when they were little swimmers).  There is time for your 6 year old to be the best swimmer in the bunch, even if she doesn't swim with the developmental team this year!  My two daughters never swam in an organized group or team until they joined the high school swim team as freshmen.  They took swimming lessons for two winters with a good instructor at the Y, who worked on stroke technique (not endurance).  They swam better than most on their team, without having to endure the grueling monotony many of the other kids endured for years swimming on the Y swim team. 

IMHO, if your child loves to swim, but doesn't enjoy the regimentation of the team and boring laps required, there are other alternatives for her swimming experience that may be better suited for her at this time.