15 yr old son refuses to go to swim class. Should I force him?

damnit mom! I told you its not the spedo!!! and as for the head condom i dont care iehter, and im not shy about showing off my stuff, and i am not affraid of showing my legs. i just dont want to go swimming! the water is dirty, and ive seen green stuff floating around in the pool. and also they found a snake in the pool!

You need to find out exactly why he is so against it. Does it stem from the swimming, or the people he'll be swimming with? Because if he would rather be isolated from the rest of the class and lie to everyone by claiming he has a false skin condition, there is something seriously upsetting him here that you need to help him work though. And neither forcing him to go to swim class or letting him out of it will take care of that problem.

I don't think forcing him to swim will be a positive move! However if can can give him some statistics on drowning it might just help a little. You know shock factor! Not to mention there are so many cool things to do in the water such as: snorkeling in caves, hiking up a water fall then sliding down it, Kayaking, canoeing, etc. Knowing how to swim just makes you more comfortable in these types of situations. You can sit back and enjoy the activity.

If your son can swim it's one problem. If your son can't swim, fear of the water is truly a real bugger to overcome

(speaking from experience) this being the case, force

won't drive the fear away, it's on him to face his fears.

Phonying up anything leads to nothing but teaching

dishonesty, and delaying what must be met head on.

Luck to ya

let him wear a drag suit over his speedo. go to the speedo website and check them out. They are pretty short, but they are bigger and less revealing than a speedo...plus if anyone teases him about wearing something over his speedo, he's being the man b/c dragsuits make it harder to swim and thus he's getting the better workout.

Let him go buy some nice board shorts to swim in. Or talk with him and ask him why he doesn't want to swim. I don't think it's okay to lie to the teacher or make excuses for him (although it sounds like you don't really want to do this either!).

What is his real problem the trunks, the community shower after or is it a weight issue and he's getting teased...

Once he goes in the "big deal" part should be over since everyone "saw" already unless one of the other things is the real issue...find out before you make any decision.

Write the note.

Don't make him do something you didn't want to do yourself.