Helping DD with "irrational" pool fears

[JayGee]

My 5yo DD has been afraid of the pool filter, the pool lights and the black line at the bottom of the lane for 3 summers now.  She's a decent little swimmer (can dog paddle about 15-20 yards unassisted, float, jump in, etc.), but her fears are preventing her from enjoying our time at the pool.  My older two love swimming and we go probably 3-5x a week in the summertime, but DD2 spends her time crying and wimpering that she's afraid of the filter (or the lines or whatever).  She's in swimming lessons at the YMCA and her instructor has advanced her to the next level, but DD2 refuses because the lane the next level uses is over the filter!   

Interestingly, when we started swimming this spring, she didn't seem afraid at all, until DH mentioned that he was so happy that she wasn't scared of the filter anymore .  Instant freak out!  The fear must be serving some purpose for her, but I can't figure it out, and it's making my days at the pool less than fun.  Plus, my older two are complaining that I can never play with them because I'm always trying to cajole DD2 into the water.

How can I help her to get past these fears?

[meemee]

first i would say stop focussing on her and her fears. focus on the other two kids having fun. dont try to cajole her or try to encourage her to get inside. let her play at the shallow end or even just sit on the edge of the pool.

she is getting to the development phase where she will lose some of her fears. around 6. its kinda a huge subtle growth spurt. i've seen it with my own dd. she has gone from screaming fearful to ok that's not too bad, i cant still look/read at it but i can tolerate it, almost overnight. 

but here's the thing. is it a fear or a phobia? and i am not sure if you can do anything about a phobia you know. 

dd's best friend had a swimming pool phobia. he hung out in the shallow end while dd went to the deep end. his dad would gently encourage but never push it. sometimes he'd leave him 'alone' while he went out to see dd. mostly they played in teh shallow end together. today he is no longer as afraid as he was before. and having dd there doing things fearlessly what he was afraid of helped him more htan his father encouraged him.

the fear of lights and filter to me is like the fear of the bathtub drain or hte flush (when they are 3 many kids like mine are afraid they'd go down the bathtub drain with the water or be flushed away or someone would come out and pull them into hte drain or flush) which they finally get over when they are 4 or 5. 

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Could you ask the pool to let you investigate the filtration system? Open up the covers, peer inside etc.  Really get to know the system and how it works.  Maybe watch YouTube videos of filter repairs or something?  Sometimes knowing and really understanding how something works makes it less scary

[meemee]

oooh good point Tgrab. there is a wonderful water series by the Magic School bus series on tv. there are two of them i believe. not really the pool but just an understanding of what the whole system is.