Edwina Munns: Let it go, a swimming lesson debacle

Yahoo Lifestyle Australia’s columnist Edwina Munns is an advocate for working mothers. She has navigated the Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch of the United Nations, uprooted her family to deep rural France, and tried to learn Mandarin three times. Today, she’s probably doing two loads of laundry and wondering if beans on toast is a nutritionally sound dinner. You can follow her over at Edwina Munns.

I deliver communication strategies and manage change for a living. It’s fast paced, filled with challenges and, in my opinion, thoroughly rewarding work.

I’ve helped hundreds of people change roles, move offices, and try brand new experiences.

So it should be relatively straightforward applying those well-versed techniques on my toddler, no?

A second stint of mat leave has meant more time at home with a growing three-year-old as well as a new baby.

And said three-year-old is incredibly adept at teaching me something new, each and every day.

The basic model of best practice change management lies in ADKAR - build Awareness of the change you’re introducing and create Desire. Give your stakeholders the Knowledge and Ability to participate in the change, and once you’ve nailed all that, Reinforce it over and over again.

Basically, you want to take someone from current state to future state. Take a swimming lesson for example.

The change is simple - current state: you don’t know how to swim.

Future state: you will be able to haul yourself out of a pool safely. You would think that learning not to drown is a motivator as big as they come.

And yet. Each week while my toddler and I stand at the edge of the pool, the teacher singing Let it Go, enticing toys floating by, me offering endless marshmallows post swim, nothing. Zero buy-in.

Other parents sit calmly by the side of the pool, blissfully enjoying the 29 minutes of downtime. Me? I’m doing the can can up and down, trying my best not to fall in while making up rhyming cheers on the spot.

Last week as I was waving my arms maniacally above my head in what can only be described as EXTREME support mode, I caught another mother taking a sneaky photo.

I can only assume we are the topic of conversation at every other family’s dinner that night. I can hear them now, ‘This week she looked like a majestic flamingo attempting ice skating. It was terrifying.’

Fingers crossed we see some enthusiasm soon, because otherwise it looks like I’m donning an adult sized Elsa costume and continuing my poolside dance routine.

At least I’m providing the entertainment, if not changing hearts and minds.

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